The French artist Jacques Villeglé, whose real name is Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé, born in Quimper March 27, 1926.
In 1943, Jacques Villeglé discovers "the Anthology of painting in France from 1906 to the Present" by Maurice Raynal. Reproduction in black and white, of the work of Joan Miró, "Love", and the statement given by the Catalan artist Raynal "I want to assassinate painting" the particularly striking. In 1944, Jacques Villeglé made his first brief visit to Paris, and falls in September in the paint section of the School of Fine Arts of Rennes. He met Raymond Hains in 1945. Starting in April, Villeglé opts for the architecture section.
In 1947 Villeglé was admitted to the National School of Fine Arts in Nantes, he attended until the end of 1949. He regularly visits Paris. It begins in Saint Malo collection of objects found samples of catalogs, barbed son of the Atlantic Wall. Jacques Villeglé discovers that without any intervention of an artist, these objects are paintings, sculptures, drawings in space. In 1948, through Raymond Hains, Jacques Villeglé met Camille Bryen, painter and poet, founder of the Informal Art with Wols.
In February 1949, Raymond Hains and Jacques Villeglé snapped a long piece of a series of concert posters plastered along a boulevard Montparnasse fence. They then recompose the shreds to perform "Ach Alma Manetro". Villeglé abandons his architecture studies in Nantes and moved to Paris, where he shared the apartment of Raymond Hains. They engage in cinematic experiences from a device of their clothing, the "hypnagogoscope" which allows using fluted glasses to "explode" images and letters. Jacques Villeglé decides to restrict her appropriative approach solely torn posters, posters that become traces of civilization, of natural art works that reflect the world, its tensions, its conflicts, its beauty.
In the early 50s, Villeglé attends Lettrists recitals, enjoying particular François Dufrene and Gil J. Wolman. In 1952, Hains and Villeglé embark on the project published in "ultra-letters" the poem "Hepérile" their friend Camille Bryen, published in 1950, which will become "Hepérile broke." Raymond Hains and Jacques Villeglé attending members Lettriste International until the summer of 1953.
In 1956 Villeglé wife Marie-Françoise de Faultrier and settled in the seventeenth arrondissement. May 24, 1957 Villeglé Hains and opened their first exhibition of torn posters, the Galerie Colette Allendy in Paris under the title "Act of 29 July 1881 or the lyricism on the sly" because of the law which states that "those who have removed, torn, covered or altered by any method, so as to disguise them or make them unreadable, posters affixed by order of the administration in the slots reserved to be punished with a fine of 5 15 francs ".
In 1958 Villeglé publishes the text "Collective Realities" in the second issue of grams: a focus on the specific posters torn from the practice of collage. During 1958, Villeglé met Pierre Henry. In 1959 Dufrene organized a private exhibition of Jacques Villeglé in his father's apartment-studio. Villeglé presents 45 posters from the "lacerated Anonymous", denomination with which he henceforth mean the creation of his works by the manifestation of a collective unconscious. Villeglé moved with his family in the third district of Paris.
October 27, 1960, Villeglé helped found the New Realist group, in Klein's apartment, 14 rue Campagne-Première in Paris. He signed with Arman, Dufrene, Hains, Klein, Raysse, Restany, Spoerri and Tinguely, the "founding declaration of the New Realists", written by Restany nine copies. Shortly after joining the César and Rotella group and Niki de Saint Phalle and Gérard Deschamps. Christo exhibit with the group without actually joining.
In 1961 Villeglé part in the exhibition "At 40 degrees above Dada" organized by Restany and dedicated to New Realists on the occasion of the inauguration of the J Gallery in Paris. Villeglé part in the exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York by William Seitz, despite the fact that his art is based on "wrest" rather than assembled. In 1962 Villeglé among the artists presented by Alain Jouffroy and Robert Lebel at the exhibition "Collages and objects" to the Circle Gallery in Paris.
In 1964, "Carrefour Auguste Delaune - Brigitte Bardot" (September 1963) was acquired by Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld: it is the first poster Villeglé to enter the museum collections. In 1965 Villeglé began writing an analysis of his work, its sources and artistic context that accompanies it. The text will be composed of several chapters. A first set, entitled "Displays lacerated: successive interference in the arts" published in 1969 in the journal Leonardo. A more developed version will then be published in 1977 by the Centre Pompidou under the title "lacerated Anonymous". The successive reworkings published in 1986 under the title "Urbi & Orbi" and in 2005, under the title "Crossing Urbi & Orbi".
In 1967, the Jacqueline Ranson gallery in Paris welcomes individual exposure Villeglé "From Mathieu Mahé". In 1969, on the occasion of the meeting of Nixon and De Gaulle in Paris, Villeglé seen on the walls of a subway corridor, graffiti, which will be the starting point for the creation of his "Alphabet socio- policy ", referring to the guerrillas symbols dealt with the work of Serge Tchakhotine" the Rape of the crowds by political propaganda "
In 1970, Jacques Villeglé begins establishing the catalog of his works thematically. The next year he set up his studio on Rue Mayor, in the third district of Paris. The Moderna Museet in Stockholm, led by Pontus Hulten, hosts the first museum retrospective of his work. In 1972, the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld resumes retrospective of Stockholm.
In 1974 Villeglé starts making the film "A myth in the city" whose assembly will be completed in 2002 with the assistance of the Centre Pompidou. In 1977, the book "lacerated Anonymous" Villeglé is published by Éditions du Centre Pompidou. In 1978 Villeglé, who had long limited the use of its alphabet to exchanges of correspondence with the artists of Mail Art, takes the realization of socio-political graphics.
In 1982 Villeglé participates in an intervention launched by the association "a.r.t.-p.r.o.s.p.e.c.t. contemporary industrial-term patronage." He affixed to Rennes on a reserved its great socio-political alphabet titled "Guerilla writes," while the same procedure is performed in Paris, on a billboard opposite the Palais de Justice. In 1985, the exhibition "Villeglé. The return of Hourloupe" is presented at the House of Culture of Rennes. In 1988, under the title "Painting in the non-painting", the Marval is publishing the first volume of the thematic catalog of works Villeglé dedicated to painters lacerated posters collected from 1959. Villeglé buys another local in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, Belleville, to store his posters. Le Magasin, National Center for Contemporary Art, in Grenoble, this large formats Villeglé in his monumental space.
In 1989, Marval Editions publish the second volume of the thematic catalog of torn posters, dealing with "political Graffiti". Valérie Jacques Villeglé Villeglé created the Secretariat for the computerization of the thematic catalog and all archives. In 1990, Marval Editions published the tenth volume of the thematic catalog of torn posters, dealing with "Transparencies," works from not only lacerations passersby but also the action of the weather, track volumes III and IV of the catalog devoted the theme of "the letter lacerated." Villeglé part in the exhibition "High and Low, Modern Art and Popular Culture" at the Museum of Modern Art from October 7 to 15 January 1991 (roaming in Chicago and Los Angeles).
In 1991, the public display policy making Villeglé Parisian activity increasingly difficult, the artist decides to expand its action to distant urban centers of the capital by developing a new theme based on "decentralization" . Harvest it performs in January-February in Lille is the origin of the first two exhibitions devoted to this theme. Villeglé part in the first Lyon Biennale entitled "The Love of Art". He participated in London in the exhibition "Pop Art", held at the Royal Academy of Arts (roaming the Museum Ludwig in Cologne).
In 1993 Villeglé was invited to exhibit at the 2nd Biennial of Contemporary Art of Lyon entitled "Together They Are Changing the World." It offers exclusively its sociopolitical graphics. In January 1994, Villeglé begins writing an autobiographical text that will continue until 1996. It will be published in 1999 under the title "Paths, 1943-1959." In 1996, Marval is publishing the volume XIX of the thematic catalog of torn posters dedicated to newspaper cupboard and torn posters related to May 68. In 1997, Villeglé creates the Aquitaine Workshop, informal structure dedicated to the collection team posters in different parts of France.
In 1998, the first exhibition devoted to posters Villeglé taken with the Aquitaine workshop takes place at the Carré Bonnat Museum in Bayonne. During the year, through Florida, a cultural space located in Agen and dedicated to amplified music, Villeglé is contacted with rap music bands, rock and techno whose names are showing. In 1999, the Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, is organizing the first solo exhibition of Villeglé. The exhibition "The great mix", is organized by Dominique Truco and by the Atelier d'Aquitaine Confort Moderne, Poitiers, with posters on the theme of amplified music. Pierre Henry made "concerted Apparitions" as background music for theaters. The exhibition "Techno-Villeglé Rapt" at the Old Church St. Vincent de Merignac, offers thirty posters on the same theme.
In 2000, L'Atelier d'Aquitaine made his first expedition abroad in Barcelona, for the passage of the century. The Tate Modern in London present in the inaugural clash of its new building the torn poster Villeglé recently acquired. The Cité de la Musique in Paris, organized the exhibition "In the street. Villeglé Jacques, Pierre Henry." The torn posters, from the Atelier d'Aquitaine, are accompanied by a new sound composition by Pierre Henry. In 2001, on invitation of the FRAC Corsica Villeglé and the team of the Atelier d'Aquitaine go to beauty of the island for an expedition followed by exposure. The second thematic exhibition of the work of Villeglé the Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois Gallery in Paris, held under the title "Jacques Villeglé. Images, torn posters, 1958-1991." The monograph written by Jacques Villeglé Odile Felgine seems Éditions Ides and Kalends. In Chicago, the Alan Koppel Gallery presents the exhibition "Jacques Villeglé. Works of Protest, 1960s-1990s". Villeglé part in the exhibition "Paris. Capital of the Arts 1900-1968" organized at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
In 2003, the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, held in the exhibition "Jacques Villeglé. Takeoffs, 1959-2000" 18 works on various themes. The Holy Cross Museum in Poitiers, organizes the exhibition "Alphabet sociopolitical. Villeglé Jacques." At the invitation of the City of Buenos Aires, Villeglé and the team of the Atelier d'Aquitaine go in the Argentine capital to prepare a torn posters exhibition, the majority is to be collected on site. This will be the last expedition Villeglé, which now cease to tear posters. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon hosts the exhibition "Jacques Villeglé. Heraldry of Subversion". The new thematic exhibition organized by the Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois Gallery in Paris, is entitled "Jacques Villeglé. No letter, no figure. Lacerated Posters 1951-1968".
In 2004, the new exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Villeglé is exposed as a European forerunner of Pop Art artists. In 2005, Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois Gallery in Paris presents "Jacques Villeglé. Policies. Lacerated Posters 1957-1995", fourth thematic exhibition of torn posters of the artist.
In 2006, the exhibition "Jacques Villeglé. Takeoffs & Drawings, 1972-2005" is organized at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Alan Koppel Gallery, Chicago, presents the exhibition "Jacques Villeglé. Early Works, 1960-1970s". The Contemporary Art Centre Quartier Quimper, birthplace of the artist, devotes an exhibition of fifty works of 2003 to 1957 In Knokke-Zoute, Belgium, the Guy Pieters Gallery hosts the exhibition "Jacques & Villeglé the Atelier d'Aquitaine". In the "White Night 2006" in Paris, Villeglé is invited to participate, in collaboration with Pierre Henry, in a former warehouse of the station, where the two participants present Le Grand Mix 2006: torn posters Series of Workshop Aquitaine is accompanied by the new sound piece of Pierre Henry, "Whispers".
In 2007, Flammarion published in the collection "Contemporary creation" a monograph Villeglé offering text Kaira Cabañas and François Bon and an interview with the artist by Nicolas Bourriaud. Villeglé part in the exhibition "New Realism" co-produced by the Centre Pompidou and the RMN at the Grand Palais in Paris, which will then be presented to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. Linda & Guy Pieters gallery publishes an important monograph on the artist, with an ample biography by Odile Felgine and an interview with the artist Michèle and Yves di Folco on Atelier d'Aquitaine, which celebrates ten years 'activity. The Stiftung Ahlers Pro Arte / Kestner Pro Arte in Hanover presents the exhibition "Jacques Mahé de La Villeglé. Plakatabreißer Ein aus Paris" (Jacques Mahé de La Villeglé. A Parisian décollagiste) with the works of Villeglé belonging to the Foundation. Villeglé participates in the opening of his new exhibition at the Gallery Lucien Schweitzer, Luxembourg, The City of Saint-Gratien inaugurates Space Jacques Villeglé dedicated to contemporary art exhibitions. The first exhibition is dedicated to the "Linda and Guy Pieters Collection". The Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, offers its fifth appointment with a thematic exhibition of the work of the artist: "Jacques Villeglé Newsletter lacerated lacerated Posters, 1955-1992..."
In 2008, the United States, Allan Koppen Gallery in Chicago, has a special exhibition of the artist. The Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, presents "Jacques Villeglé. Liftoff from 1965 to 2006". The Mayor of San Francisco proclaimed a "special day" in honor of the artist. The Departmental Museum of Ancient and Contemporary Art presents exhibition Epinal Villeglé under "Villeglé. From transgression to the collection, 1949-2007." The Ides Calendes editions and publish, under the title "Villeglé. Policy", a new volume of the thematic catalog of the torn political posters.
The same year the Centre Pompidou organized a retrospective Jacques Villeglé entitled "urban comedy". This exhibition, the first retrospective in France of the artist, with more than a hundred works from the 1940s to today, thematically addresses the journey of the artist, from the typographical and large abstract compositions burst colorful beginnings to the recent rhythmical juxtapositions derived from concert posters.
