Jacques Monory
1924–2018 · French painter and filmmaker, a leading figure of Narrative Figuration
Jacques Monory (France, 1924 – 2018) was a French painter and filmmaker whose work, shaped by photography and cinema, offers an allegory of the contemporary world focused on the violence of everyday life. He was one of the leading figures of the European Pop Art movement that the critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot named Narrative Figuration.
Monory was first exhibited at the Drouant-David Gallery in Paris in 1952. During the 1960s he became one of the movement's principal figures. In 1968 he directed the influential film Ex- and painted the series Les Meurtres (Murders), which set out the traits of his style: division into sequences, distance created through a monochrome blue, dream and illusion, and a critical view of society. His profile grew after the solo show Monory Catalogue 1968-1971 at the Museum of Modern Art of Paris, and in 1974 he joined the gallery of Aimé Maeght.
His canvases evoke a heavy atmosphere, drawing on photography and film. His best-known works include the Operas Glacés (Frozen Operas) and Detour, a large spiral installation that inaugurated the MACVAL in 2005. His work is held in collections such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.
His legacy lies in how European narrative painting engaged with American Pop, from a critical view of society.