Jean Miotte, French abstract painter, Died at 90

Jean Miotte was born in 1926, in Paris and died on March 1, 2016.

He was a French abstract painter, in the style known as L’Art Informel.

Jean came from creative age in war-torn Europe in the decade after World War II, when non-figurative, gestural abstraction was emerging on both sides of the Atlantic as the dominant language in contemporary art.

Trying to find what has been termed art autre, artists such as Kazuo Shiraga, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Emil Schumacher, and Miotte championed the individual freedom of the artist as expressed through gestural brushstrokes and thick pools of color.

Apparently, Miotte has stated that “My painting is a projection, a succession of acute moments where creation occurs in the midst of spiritual tension and as a result of inner conflicts.

All his artistic influences include performance, choreography, jazz music, and particularly ballet.

In 1948 whilst in London, he completed designs and saw the work of Balanchine, the Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and Margot Fonteyn.

Being opened to this variety of art was of profound inspiration to him; Miotte would experiment with gesture through painting and home lyrical movement in his own art.

Also, Miotte’s lithe, inventive line mimics the living art of dance.

His artistic experiments in media ranging from oil to acrylic, gouache, ink, etching, lithography, and collage.

Jean Miotte use of black paint on a white or raw surface frequently recalls calligraphy; when color appears, it ranges from primaries to earthy tones.

During the 1990s, Jean started producing the canvases currently on display, the largest of his career.

Jean Miotte passed away at 90 yrs old.