Jacques Duthoo, Composition, Oil On Canvas

Jacques Duthoo (1910–1960)
Composition
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
55 x 73 cm

JACQUES DUTHOO (1910–1960)

Born in Tours in 1910, Jacques Duthoo chose to spend his entire life there, far from the controversies surrounding the capital’s art scene. An admirer of the old masters, contemporary art, and the work of Georges Rouault—with whom he corresponded regularly—he began painting as a self-taught artist at the age of 30. After starting out by painting still lifes and flowers—executed in thick impasto and with an expressionist style—he discovered non-figurative painting. Two years later, Wilhelm Uhde, a German art collector and critic, acquired two of his paintings. Duthoo began to attract the attention of art critics.

His first exhibition took place in Paris in 1946 at Denise René’s gallery, alongside Serge Poliakoff. Throughout his life, Duthoo exhibited at the Salon de Mai and was the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in Paris, Brussels, and Switzerland. In 1948, he exhibited again at Denise René’s gallery, this time alongside masters such as Mondrian, Kandinsky, Vasarely, and Sonia Delaunay.

In 1950, Duthoo discovered another form of expression as part of the Graphies group; he took up printmaking and acquired a small press. He then worked with iron and ceramics and created tapestry designs. The twenty paintings exhibited by the Ariel Gallery in 1959 were a huge success with major collectors. This would be his last exhibition, shortly before his untimely death at the age of 50. Réalités Nouvelles, where he exhibited annually from 1950 to 1959, paid tribute to him, and the Musée de Tours dedicated a retrospective to him as early as 1961. A new, larger retrospective took place at the Château de Tours in 2014.

His works are held in the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canton de Vaud, the Musée de Tours, and the Harvard Art Museum.