Marcel Jean Biography
Marcel Jean was born in Charité-sur-Loire, France, in 1900.
He studied at the École nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and in 1924 moved to the United States, where he collaborated with a textile atelier. Returning to Paris two years later, he approached Surrealism. In 1933 he met Breton, Paul Éluard, Benjamin Péret and René Crevel, among the main exponents of Surrealism, and joined the movement. He became one of the first chroniclers of Surrealism and actively participated in the group's meetings, exhibitions and publications. In 1936, in collaboration with Oscar Dominguez, he created “Grisou”, a collection of images evoking the creation of the world. He also created surrealist objects, such as the woman's head “Le Specter du Gardènia”, and participated in the exhibition “Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1937. In 1945, in collaboration with Arpad Mezei , published “Maldoror” and two years later participated in the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme" at the Galerie Maeght in Paris. In the 1950s, Jean undertook an in-depth analysis of the Surrealist movement with the “Histoire de la peinture surréaliste”, followed by Jours effeuillés, a collection of writings by Jean (Hans) Arp. In the late 1960s, Jean achieved a prominent position among scholars of Surrealism and received an invitation to lecture on the subject at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1976 he dedicated forty medals to the protagonists of Surrealism and to the symbols of the movement. Two years later he published “Autobiographie du Surréalisme,” an anthology of surrealist writings, followed by an autobiography in 1991, “Au Galop dans le vent paraît.”
Marcel Jean died on 4 December 1993 in Louveciennes.
