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The estate of Jean Dewasne

Jean Dewasne, a key figure of the Geometric Abstraction movement- which he preferred to describe as Constructed- had a multidisciplinary education, having studied architecture as well as music, philosophy, mathematics, and, of course, fine arts. He defended his theories within the renowned Atelier d'art abstrait (Abstract Art Studio), which he founded in 1946 with his friend Edgar Pillet, and which trained many artists from around the world.

He continued his research and wrote numerous texts, published in the most avant-garde journals of the post-war years, encouraged by art critics and galleries such as Denise René and Daniel Cordier, who passionately supported this movement.

A leading theorist of abstract painting, co-founder of the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (Salon of New Realities) and first-place recipient of the 1946 Kandinsky Prize, Jean Dewasne began, at the age of thirty, writing the Traité d'une peinture plane (Treatise on Flat Painting), a major and highly insightful text on pictorial aesthetics, a plea for free painting, liberated from all figurative constraints, rich in forms and colours with a universal language.

His early recognition, both by institutions and critics, earned him a reputation that cumulated in his selection to represent France at the Venice Biennale in 1968.

Passionate about the industrial world and the integration of his work in the city, he never ceased to produce monumental two- and three-dimensional works, as evidenced by the murals for the Gori factory in Denmark (1979), the Grenoble Ice Stadium (1968), the Grande Arche de la Défense (1989), as well as frescoes for the Hanover and Rome metro systems.

The donation of his studio archives, which I granted to the State, has resulted in the enrichment of museum collections, and the exhibitions dedicated to him will contribute to the lasting influence of his work, which he hoped would remain timeless.

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