A FRENCH ARTIST EXPANDS HIS COLORFUL BILLET-DOUX TO SELF-TAUGHT ICONS

L’imagier Singulier de François Jauvion, Tome 2
illustrations by François Jauvion; preface by Michel Thévoz; introduction by Christian Berst; artists’ portraits by Marie Sün; entries about artists by various contributors
Paris: Les éditions lelivredart, 2024
ISBN: 978-2-35532-413-0 50
50 euros

by Edward M. Gómez

François Jauvion is a French artist based in the Paris region who for many years made his living primarily as a model-maker. He had long been interested in unusual art forms when, eventually, he learned about and started exploring the world of art brut.

In 2020, Les éditions lelivredart published the first volume of L’imagier Singulier de François Jauvion, in which the artist paid tribute to some very well-known and, to non-European admirers of art brut, some less well-known creators in this art-historical field, whose name the French modern artist Jean Dubuffet coined in 1945.

Looking back at how his ambitious, two-volume project developed, Jauvion recently told brutjournal, “After many years working three-dimensionally, I wanted to explore drawing. Everything began with a white sheet of paper, on which I wanted to tell a story.” At first, Jauvion drew nude figures in the center of each sheet of paper, surrounding each one with images of his or her respective personal belongings and garments.