Jacques le Noane

JACQUES LE NOANE (France, 1924 - 2015).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 54 x 73 cm.
Jacques Le Noane was a French surrealist painter and photographer whose work contributed to renew, in the field of contemporary painting, the process of automatic writing characteristic of surrealism. His artistic production is distinguished by an intuitive and structured approach to the surrealist language, as well as by a deep inspiration rooted in his Breton origins. Throughout his career, Le Noane knew how to combine a cultural heritage, linked to the Celtic imaginary, with a remarkable creative freedom, developing a work that integrates painting and photography within a poetic and symbolic sensibility. After studying at the prestigious institute of political science Sciences Po, he went on to study at the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), which allowed him to begin a distinguished career at the French Ministry of Finance and, later, to conclude his professional career at the Cour des Comptes. His first creative approach came through photography during the 1950s. Through the camera he explored various landscapes and environments, including the territory of the Pays Bigouden in Brittany. However, it was not until 1968, at the age of forty-four, that he decided to devote himself fully to painting, driven by a creative need that he himself would describe as irresistible.
From a stylistic point of view, Jacques Le Noane developed an original pictorial language that some critics have defined as "primitive surrealism". His working method is based on a process close to surrealist automatic writing: in a first phase, the artist allows himself to be freely guided by the unconscious, generating spontaneous forms and unpremeditated visual associations on the canvas. Later, in a second stage, he reorganizes and structures these forms according to the images and suggestions he perceives in them, in a procedure comparable to that practiced by George Sand with his well-known dendrite drawings.