Jean Touret

Into the 1940's, Jean Touret (b. 1916) was an up and coming artist trying to escape his destiny working in an insurance company. Involved in the war, he was taken prisoner in Germany and forced into hard forestry work, an experience that made a profound impact on him. Upon his return to France, he makes a radical turn toward a more personal and singular art on the border of cubism and brutalism.

Touret then sculptes powerful totems of human figures, shapes copper using repoussee to make feminine silhouettes appear, and assembles wood panels featuring abstract compositions.

"Jean Touret has always been interested in verticality: the verticality of trees, the verticality of man; verticality is dignity, courage, men upright, dynamism."
Sébastien Touret, his son

Curious by nature, Touret deplored the taste of the general public for standardized furniture, forgetting traditional techniques, and withdrawing from the works of local artisans.

BIOGRAPHY