Jacques Villeglé

Jacques Villeglé, whose real name was Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé, was born in Quimper on March 27, 1926. He studied painting and drawing at the École des Beaux-Arts in Rennes in 1945, where he met Raymond Hains, who was to become a key collaborator.

In the early 1950s, Villeglé called himself a “poster artist", chronicling “the guerrilla war of signs". He collected, sorted and exhibited torn posters, which he saw as a reflection of the dominant culture. Through his work, he aims to bear witness to the life of his times, capturing the political, social and cultural context.

In December 1949, Villeglé began collecting torn posters with Raymond Hains. Their first joint work, “Ach Alma Manétro", marked the beginning of this process. In 1958, he wrote a text entitled “Des Réalités collectives", prefiguring the manifesto of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, of which he was a founding member.

Since 1957, Villeglé's selective work has been shown in over 140 solo exhibitions in Europe and America. In 1959, he created the “Lacéré Anonyme" entity and, from 1969 onwards, developed a “socio-political alphabet" in homage to Serge Tchakhotine. In 2007, he explored new artistic techniques, including sculpture in bronze, glass, corten steel, mirror-polished stainless steel and cast iron.

Villeglé began collecting found objects in Saint-Malo in 1947, such as wire and debris from the Atlantic Wall. The result was Fils d'acier - chaussée aux corsaires, now in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and considered by Raymond Hains to be the first Nouveau Réaliste work.

He described his work as “the irruption of the street on the walls of the museum", positioning himself as a pioneer of Street Art. Throughout his life, Villeglé was the subject of over 200 solo exhibitions worldwide, notably in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Jacques Villeglé died in 2022, leaving behind him a significant artistic legacy and a lasting influence on contemporary art. His impact on the New Realism movement remains undeniable.