La mauvais esprit, 1971

Jacques Grinberg  

Jacques Grinberg was born in 1941 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
He left the country at the age of 13 with his family for Israel. He was first educated in a kibbutz. Then, very early attracted by painting, he enrolled in 1957 at the Avni Art Institute in Tel Aviv. He studied there for three years with professors Mokadi, Stematsky and Streichman.

He exhibited for the first time at the Katz Gallery (Tel Aviv-Israel) in 1959 then at the Chemerinsky Art Gallery (Tel Aviv-Israel) in 1961. As a young painter, he chose to leave for Paris in 1962. He moved into a small artists' colony, rue d'Alesia and frequents the Montparnasse district.

In 1963, he exhibited in Oslo ( 4 young Israeli painters , Gallery 27) then in Brussels ( Jewish graphic art , Librairie la Proue) as well as in Ghent ( Israeli painters in Paris , Galerie Kaleidoskoop) and Madrid (Galleria Privada).

The gallery owner Jo Verbrugghen notices this and organizes Grinberg's first personal exhibition at the Kaleidoskoop Gallery (Ghent). At the age of 23, he entered the Galerie d'André Schoeller junior (Paris) which prepared several personal exhibitions for him. He will remain under contract with this dealer from 1964 to 1970.

During this same period, he participated in numerous group exhibitions in Switzerland ( Rencontres - Galerie Krugier; and Galeries Pilotes - Lausanne Museum), in Paris ( Moralites - Galerie Lahumière; and Galerie Claude Levin), in Ibiza (Galeria Ivan Spence) , but also in Austria, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. Promoter of a renewed figurative approach, he also stood out in the Salons - Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Salon de Mai, Salon Grands et Jeunes d'hui - both for his violent language and anti-bourgeois and anti-militarist politics for the mastery of his pictorial expression.

During these artistic meetings (group exhibitions, fairs), he exhibited with Maryan, Rebeyrolle, and Saura as well as with Adami, Aillaud, Arnal, Rancillac, Recalcati, Arroyo, Segui, Tisserand, Telemaque, Monory. Critics are impressed by his work and consider him one of the pioneers of New Figuration.

Following the closure of the Schoeller Gallery, Jacques Grinberg returned to live in Israel for a year.

Back in Paris, he rented a studio in Saint-Germain des Prés. He expands his sources of inspiration: kabbalah, tao, arts of Africa and Mexico He explores and multiplies pictorial research.

In 1973, he presented lithographs at the National Library of France and then at the Galerie de France, with Alechinsky, Erro, Jorn, Matta and Topor. The same year, he collaborated again with the Belgian dealer Jo Verbrugghen: a major personal exhibition - "10 years later" - was dedicated to him at the Sint Pietersabdij Museum in Ghent.

In 1974, he returned to the Montparnasse district where he worked successively in a studio on rue des Plantes then rue Campagne Première. He travels to Mexico and Greece. At that time he also lived and worked for some time in London.

New start in Israel. He held three personal exhibitions there, first at the Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv) in 1984 and 1985, then at the 27 Gallery in 1987 (Tel Aviv). The work of Jacques Grinberg then reached an enthusiastic public and his exhibitions benefited from a certain media coverage.

Grinberg returned to France in 1987. He reconnected with Cérès Franco - friend of twenty years and director of the Galerie l'Œil de Bœuf in Paris. The latter supported him and prepared four personal exhibitions for him between 1988 and 1991.

Installation in Malakoff in 1991.

During this period, Jacques Grinberg now devoted himself exclusively to creation. His pictorial production is sure and intense. He begins to write and has many collections printed.

In 1997, his engravings were exhibited at the Galerie Jacques in Ann Arbor in the United States (Michigan). And the Galerie Idées d'artistes organized what would be his last personal exhibition - Véhément, mélancolique - in 2002. Some of his works are regularly presented throughout France during public exhibitions of the Cérès Franco collection.

In 2008, the Galerie Polad-Hardouin - wishing to pay tribute to the painters of the New Figuration of the 1960s - organized a manifesto exhibition entitled New Figuration: Act III. Jacques Grinberg exhibits works from this period there alongside, in particular, Maryan, Macréau, Rebeyrolle, Saura, Christoforou, Lindström.

Firmly independent and mad about painting, he freely continued his research by constantly renewing himself until his death on May 31, 2011.