Jacques Villeglé

Decentralization, No. 4, 1991

Color silkscreen on white wove paper

Numbered and signed in pencil.

A. Buyse editions

Print run: 50 copies

50 x 65 cm

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Jacques Villeglé, born Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé on March 27, 1926 in Quimper, studied painting and drawing at the École des Beaux-Arts in Rennes from 1945, where he met Raymond Hains, who was to become a major collaborator. In 1947, in Saint-Malo, he began collecting found objects such as pieces of wire and debris from the Atlantic Wall. This collection gave rise to Fils d’acier – chaussée aux corsaires, now housed at the Centre Pompidou, which Raymond Hains considers to be the first work of Nouveau Réalisme.

Villeglé liked to describe his work as “the irruption of the street on the walls of the museum”, positioning himself as a precursor of Street Art. Over the course of his career, he has presented over 200 solo exhibitions worldwide, in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Jacques Villeglé, who died in 2022, leaves a major artistic legacy and a lasting influence on contemporary art, with an undeniable impact on the New Realism movement.