JEAN MOIRAS (b. 1945, French)Jean Moiras (pronounced ‘mwhar-áhss’) is a French modernist painter from the School of Paris. His work is classic mid-20th Century modernism – the period after ‘High Modernism’ – when representational subject matter came to be mixed with abstraction in a single work of art. Moiras’ colleagues in style and subject matter include Bernard Cathelin, Foujita, Richard Diebenkorn, and Wayne Thiebaud, to name just a few. A typical painting by Moiras – be it a land- or townscape, relies for its ground plan on a grid, as in the earliest compositions of Mondrian before he became a non-representational painter.* From this grid, spring abstract ‘shadows’ of color and forescapes – with more representational subject matter emerging from the painting’s horizon lines. Part of the artist’s earliest education was in French polytechnic studies. Thus, an air of archi- tectonics and engineering can undergird the imagery in a Moiras townscape – crisp marine-dock and industrial-plant imagery all the way to domestic interiors and lovely French townscapes in Moiras’ ‘softer,’ more poetic works. The artist’s impasto style combines bravado painterly application with extreme precision. Like Foujita and Manet before him, Moiras makes idiosyncratic use of the value black to create tense outlining that is almost ‘wiry’ or stained-glass-like. Finally, the hallmark of Modernism – its “push-pull” optical dynamics are in full force in Moiras’ work – with color fields and forms proceeding from and receding into the picture plane – a fourth-dimensional aspect of time elapsing in the mind’s eye. This is a truly remarkable jump in dimensionality when one considers that a painting’s ground is a flat, two-dimensional plane! How uncanny that artists from Picasso to Moiras are able to manipulate formal qualities in a flat work of art to cause its components to move and shift before the eyes of the viewer! – a singular triumph in the theoretics of 20th-century Modernism. EDUCATIONL’École des Beaux Arts, Paris, FranceCAREERStudio Pierre Simonini, décors for theater, cinema, television in the company of the renowned Maurice Béjart, Nikki de St-Phalle, Jean Tinguely, et al.SELECTED SOLO SHOWS2007 Château de Val, Bort-les-Orgues2006/’92 Centre d’Art Contemporain, Chamalières2006/’04 Maison des Comtes, Orcet2002/’01 Maison des Comtes, Orcet2003/’94 Centre d’Art Contemporain, Issoire2001 Centre Culturel, Montpeyroux Abbaye des Prémontrés2000 Espace François Mitterand, Marange Silvange1996 Château de Pont-Royal, Mallemort de Provence1994 Museum of Art and Archeology, Aurillac Maison des Industries, Mulhouse1986 European Parliament, Strasbourg1982 Palais des Congrès, Clermont-Ferrand1975 L’École des Beaux Arts, Clermont-FerrandSELECTED GROUP SHOWS2005 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières Invité d’honneur des artistes d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand1993/’86 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières1990 Barcelona Biennial of Contemporary Art, Spain, Juried Show1989 French-Canadian Salon, Juried Show, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Museum of Contemporary Art, Issoire1987 Palace of the Popes, Avignon, France1985 National Society of Fine Arts, ParisSELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONSChancellery of Universities, Clermont-FerrandFaculty of Medicine, Clermont-FerrandCounsel General of Puy-de-DômeFrench Embassy, San Salvador, El SalvadorSELECTED PUBLIC & PRIVATE INSTALLATION-COMMISSIONSPort Camargue, sculpture & mosaicOffices of the City Council, mosaic, AuvergneLuitaud Laboratories, BrioudeMediatech, sculptural fountain, IssoireSchool of Architecture, mosaic, Clermont-FerrandInternational Center of Endoscopic Surgery, frescoes, Clermont-FerrandDepartment of Water Purification, mosaic, Le Grau du RoiChamber of Commerce and Industry, sculpture and sundial, Clermont-FerrandPRIZES, HONORS, & AWARDS‘Medal of Honor,’ Chamalières, 2006‘Medal of Honor,’ Clermont-Ferrand, 2005/1981‘Medal of Honor of the Counsel-General,’ Puy de Dôme, 1996‘Medal of Honor,’ public installation, Chamalières‘Silver Medal,’ contemporary art, Art Expo, New York, NY‘Vulcan Prize,’ public installations, Auvergne/Puy de Dôme‘Young Artist Prize,’ Denges Exhibition of Art, Lausanne, Switzerland*The general outline of Modern Art suggests that at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, representation slowly gave way to pure abstraction, only to later – at mid-20th Century – return to representation in hybrid forms, as discussed here. all in France, unless otherwise noted