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French painter Jean-Michel Atlan was born in Constantine, Algeria, in 1913 and died in Paris in 1960.
After studying in Constantinople, Atlan moved to Paris in 1930 and entered the Sorbonne to study philosophy. He prepared for the agrégation, while teaching in various provincial lycées until 1940, when he was dismissed by the Vichy government.
Atlan began painting in 1941, at the height of the war. His first works were expressionist. He joined the Resistance and was arrested by the Germans.
In 1945, he met Gertrude Stein in Paris. She showed the works she bought in London and New York and opened the doors of her collector friends to him. Jean Michel Atlan had many admirers and friends, including Hans Hartung, Schneider, Pierre Soulages and Serge Poliakoff.
In 1950, he was invited by the magazine CoBrA to express his views on contemporary art. From 1953, he enjoyed growing success in Japan, where he had a major influence on abstract Japanese calligraphy. Many museums in France and abroad acquired his paintings, including the Tate Gallery in London and the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris.
The Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris held a retrospective of his work in 1963, and the Tel Aviv Museum in 1964.
Self-taught, unclassifiable, a latecomer to painting, neither figurative nor entirely abstract, Atlan’s extremely singular art had a major influence on the painters who worked with him. His language, close to abstract expressionism, brought him closer to the Cobra group. His paintings are severely constructed, with dark, thick black, charcoal graphics, encircling curved or aggressive elementary forms, initially materialised by bright colours, then gradually softening.