biography

Michel Nedjar was born in 1947 in Soisy-sous Montmorency (Val d’Oise) to an Ashkenazi mother and a Sephardic father. The third in a family of 7 children, he became passionate about fabric very early on – his father being a tailor –, making dresses for his sisters’ dolls – with which he secretly played – and helping his grandmother sell old rags (Schmatess) at the flea market. As an adolescent, he became painfully aware of the Holocaust, of the history of his family, in large part fallen victim to Nazism: the tragic dolls he then began to make are reminiscent of this. He subsequently went on numerous trips to Asia and Mexico, where he discovered the magical Kachina dolls and the mummies: “They weren’t dead. They had their costumes, their dresses glued to their skin.” It was upon his return that he made his first dolls (his “soul flesh” series, a pun on the French for “dear ladies”) out of rope, rags and feathers that he would soak in a bath of dirt, dye and blood. As many burnt cadavers as mutilated bodies. Starting in 1980, his creativity extended to drawing, wax and painting. When Dubuffet discovered him and started to collect his dolls, Nedjar was introduced to Art Brut: enthusiastic, he himself began to seek new artists, to collect their works and co-founded – with Madelein Lommel and Claire Teller – L’Aracine.* Thus, Nedjar entered doubly into the world of Art History, as a scout for Art Brut, and above all, as an artist. Roger Cardinal dedicated a leading article to him in the Fascicules of Art Brut and more than 20 or so of his works are in the National Museum of Modern Art thanks to the Cordier donation.

He is the Brut artist – even if he no longer really belongs in this category – who has exposed the most over the past 30 years and his work has been the subject of a great number of international publications. 

* the donation of this collection in 1999 allowed for the foundation of the first Art Brut museum in France at the LaM, in Villeneuve d’Ascq.

 

selective exhibitions

drawing now art fair, le carreau du temple, paris, from march 22th to 25th 2018.

la maison, curator : gustavo giacosa, galerie zola cité du livre, aix-en-provence, from september 30th to december 30th, 2017.

michel nedjar, instrospective, lille metropolitan museum of modern, contemporary and outsider art, villeneuve-d'ascq, from february 24th to june 4th 2017.

on the wire by jean-hubert martin, christian berst art brut gallery & jean brolly gallery, from april 9th to may 22nd, 2016.

the ones and the others, center of studies of the expression and hospital saint anne, from april 14th to july 10th, 2016.

michel nedjar, présences, by nathalie hazan-brunet, museum of art and history of judaism, from february 15th to october 23rd 2016.

le mur, oeuvres de la collection antoine de galbert, la maison rouge, from june 14th to september 21st, 2014.

michel nedjar, momentum (une rétrospective), christian berst art brut gallery from  May, 23rd to July 12th, 2014.

accidental genius: art from the anthony petullo collection, milwaukee, from february 10th to May 6th, 2012.

outsider art fair, on the stand  christian berst art brut gallery, 7 west 34th street nyc from february 11th to february 13th, 2011.

art paris 2010, on the stand&nbsp christian berst art brut gallery, le grand palais - paris, from march 18th to march 22th, 2010.

rentrée hors-les-normes 2010, découvertes & nouvelles acquisitions, christian berst art brut gallery from september 16th to october 16th, 2010.

poupées purim, museum of art and history of judaism, paris, from march 9th to september 13th, 2009.

michel nedjar - animo.! und gugging classics, museum gugging, maria gugging, austria, from may 31st to december 31st, 2008.

galerie jean-pierre risch-fisch, strasbourg, 2000.

galerie latal, zürich, 1999.

galerie saint etienne, New York, 1998.

judy a. saslow gallery, chicago, 1997.

carl hammer gallery, chicago, 1996.

american primitive gallery, new york, 1996.

de stadshof-museum voor naïeve en outsider kunst, zwolle, holland, 1996.

galerie susanne zander, cologne, 1993.

carl hammer gallery, chicago, 1993.

galerie michael hass, berlin, 1993.

galerie rolf ohse, bremen, 1992.

galerie charlotte buri, basel, 1989.

carl hammer gallery, chicago, 1989.

galerie godula bucholz, werkraum, munich, 1981.

rosa esman gallery, new york, 1986.

gallery susanne zander, cologne, 1988.

galerie susi Brunner, zürich, 1988.

selective bibliography

exhibition catalogue, la maison, gustavo giacosa, claire margat castlebooks, genoa, 2017. 

exhibition catalog, michel nedjar, introspective : [exhibition presented at the lam museum of villeneuve d'ascq, from f ebruary 24th to june 4th 2017], corinne brabant, jean-michel bouhours, déborah couette, musée d'art moderne de lille métropole, villeneuve d'ascq, 2017.

exhibition catalog, on the wire by jean-hubert martin, [exhibition presented at christian berst art brut gallery, in Paris, from april 9th to march 22th 2016], christian berst art brut & jean brolly gallery, christian berst art brut ed., Paris, 2016.

roxana azimi, la folie de l'art brut, séguier, 2014.

exhibition catalog, le mur : oeuvres de la collection antoine de galbert : [exhibition presented in paris, at la maison rouge, from june 14th to september 21th 2015], anaël pigeat, sophie delpeux, la maison rouge, paris, 2015.

exhibition catalog, michel nedjar | momentum (une rétrospective), [exhibition presented at christian berst art brut gallery, in paris, from may 23rd to july 12th 2014], christian berst art brut ed., paris, 2014.

dagmar chobot, manfred chobot, "michel nedjar", in ver-rückt. art brut aus der sammlung dagmar und manfred chobot, nöart (hg.), st. pölten, 2014.

dagmar chobot, "michel nedjar", in kunst, die verbindet, hannah rieger (hg.), vienna, 2014.

martine lusardy, john maizels, raw vision 25 ans d’art brut, halle saint pierre, paris, 2013.

françoise monnin, l'art brut, scala, paris, 2012. 

andrea margaret, lisa Stone, jane kallir, accidental genius: art from the anthony petullo collection, prestel, munich, 2012.

exhibition catalog, sous le vent de l’art brut: collection charlotte zander, [exhibition catalog at la halle-saint-pierre, in paris, from january 17th to august 26th 2011], martine lusardy, jean-louis lanoux, halle saint pierre, paris, 2010.

exhibition catalog, rentrée hors-les-normes 2010 découvertes et nouvelles acquisitions, [exhibition presented at christian berst art brut gallery, in Paris, from September 16th to October 16th 2010], christian berst art brut ed., paris, 2010.

« l'art brut aujourd'hui », in artension, hors série n°4, September 2010.

michel nedjar, nathalie hazan-brunet, adam rzepka, poupées pourim, gallimard jeunesse/giboulées, paris, 2008.

david maclagan, outsider art, from the margins to the marketplace, reaktion books, london, 2009.

john maizels, outsider art sourcebook: art brut, folk art, folk art, outsider art, raw vision, herts, 2009.

laurent danchin “my dolls saved me”, in raw vision, n°63, 2008.

johann feilacher, michel nedjar: Animo.!, springer wien, new york, 2008.

beautés insensées, figures, histoires et maîtres de l’art irrégulier, sous la direction de bianca tosatti, milano, skira, 2006.

laurent danchin, l’art brut, l’instinct créateur, découverte gallimard, paris, 2006.

exhibition catalogue, inner worlds outside, fondacion “la caixa”, irish museum of modern art, whitechapel gallery, london, 2006.

« michel nedjar, sur paroles », in gazogène n°29/30, cahors, 2006.

françoise monnin, michel nedjar, enveloppes, paris, iconofolio / outsiders (objet trouvé gallery collection), paris, 2006.

lucienne peiry, l’art brut, flammarion, « tout l’art » coll., paris, 1997, 2006.

 

thomas röske, bettina brand-claussen, gerhard dammann, collecting madness, outsider art from the dammann collection, heidelberg, wunderhorn, 2006.

kristin bauer, animales: outsider art, art brut, zürich, gallery / sammlung s. brunner, zurich, 2005.

daniel cordier, le regard d'un amateur, centre pompidou, les abattoirs, paris, 2005.

john maizels, l’art brut, l’art outsider et au-delà, phaidon, paris, 2003.

colin rhodes, l'art outsider, art brut et création hors normes au XXe siècle, thames & hudson, « l’univers de l’art » coll., paris, 2001. 

michel nedjar, valérie rouzeau, une foule en terre foulée, travioles, paris, 2001.

l'aracine, art brut, musée d’art brut, neuilly-sur-marne, 1999.

exhibition catalog, art brut, collection de l’aracine : [exhibition presented form february 2d to july 14th at the museum of modern art of villeneuve-d'ascq], joëlle pijaudier-cabot, museum of modern art, 1997.

laurent danchin, art brut et compagnie, la face cachée de l’art contemporain, la différence, paris, 1995.

michel nedjar, bezauberte körper : zeichnungen, galerie susanne, köln, 1994.

roger cardinal, fascicule de l’art brut n°16, collection de l’art brut, lausanne, 1990.

ehibition catalog, les singuliers de l’art. des inspirés aux habitants paysagistes : [exhibition presented from january 19th to march 5th 1978 at the museum of modern art of paris], museum of modern art of paris, arc 2, paris, 1978. 

To see: emérance dubas, poupées de lumière, portrait de michel nedjar, senso films, 2008.

catalogue

selective press review

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