JEAN-JACQUES GAILLIARD
Symbolist, avant-garde and "surimpressionist" painter

Jean-Jacques Gailliard (Brussels 1890-1976)

"Ostend fishing vessel" 1946, oil on canvas, 40 x 59 cm
​Available

Victor Servranckx and Gailliard in 1958

Jean-Jacques Gailliard and former Prime Minister Theo Lefèvre in 1970

Jean-Jacques Gailliard, son of impressionist painter ​Franz Gailliard, was born in Brussels in 1890. In 1903 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and in 1907 he followed the drawing lessons of symbolist painter Jean Delville, who was fascinated by mysticism, esoterism and occultism. As an adept of swedish theologian and mystic Swedenborg, Gailliard decorated the chapel of the "General Church of New Jerusalem" in Ixelles in 1915. During that period his work was symbolist and he used a pointillist technique. During the interbellum, his works became abstract. From 1920 to 1924 he moved to Paris where he met artists a.o. Isidora Duncan, Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Eric Satie. From 1922 onwards, he took part in the "Salon des Indépendants in Paris". When "7 Arts" was founded in 1922, he participated at several exhibitions of this avant-garde group. In 1923 he was present at the Salon of "La Lanterne Sourde" in the Egmont Palace in Brussels and in 1925 he was a member of "Les peintres constructeurs", with Baugniet, architect Stanislas Jasinski, Servranckx, Flouquet, Xhrouet and Maes. In 1925 he co-founded the modernism group
"​L'Assaut"​​. In his abstract works of the 1920's a certain humor is present, which distinguished him from his fellow "constructivist" artists. Keeping in mind the interdisciplinary character of different art forms, he illustrated books, published engravings and designed theater decors. With L'Assaut he organized an open-air exhibition in Brussels in 1927. In 1927 he also signed a contract with Gallery "Le Centaure" in Brussels. Gailliard started making at that time figurative paintings which he called "surimpressionist", focusing on the reality behind the visible world. The fantastic element became essential in his oeuvre, at times in combination with words or texts. Throughout his long career he made figurative drawings and paintings of places in Brussels and Ostend and portraits of fellow artists and writers : Maurice Maeterlinck, Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, Michel de Ghelderode and many others. In 2007 Group 2 Gallery paid tribute to the artist with the exhibition "Jean-Jacques Gailliard - about James Ensor and Ostend".

 

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