Pierre Tal-Coat

Pierre Jacob, who will take the pseudonym Pierre Tal-Coat in 1927, is born in Clohars-Carnoët (Finistère, France) in 1905. Initially an apprentice blacksmith, then the clerk for a notary, moulder and ceramics painter, Pierrre Jacob draws from an early age.

He studies art at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière between 1924 and 1926. In 1927, Tal-Coat’s first exhibition is organized at the Galerie Fabre, and he uses the occasion to take his pseudonym (meaning “face of wood” in Breton). In the same year, he becomes acquainted with Henri Bénézit, his first dealer, who will become his friend.

During the 1930’s, the artist paints bold, figurative canvases: portraits of women, self-portraits and landscapes. From 1932 to 1939, he is a member of Les Forces Nouvelles, a group that campaigns for a return to the pictorial tradition “in an enthusiastic contact with nature”. In 1936, Tal-Coat protests against the Spanish war through a series of paintings, The Massacres. In 1940, he forms a friendship with Giacometti and makes the acquaintance of Balthus, d’Artaud and Tzara.