Author Description

The remarkable and strangely compelling body of work that Jared French created during his lifetime, unavailable to viewers for the last several decades, is now brought together for the first time. All of French's major works are here, with 34 beautiful color reproductions spanning 30 years, providing the long-awaited opportunity to view the fascinating world of his mythic imagery. A master technician, French employed the meticulous method of egg tempera to create allegorical, dreamlike images marked by a striking clarity of form. Drawing from ancient art and the figures and symbols of religious myth, French's elemental landscapes consist of oddly juxtaposed, immaculately rendered objects and human forms that capture an inner reality and cast a spell over the viewer's imagination. While the art world in the '40s and '50s was focused on abstract expressionism, Jared French, along with his colleagues Paul Cadmus and George Tooker, worked against the trends of the time and looked back to the Renaissance for inspiration. French's work, while linked to Surrealism and Magic Realism, defies these categories and remains highly original. The power of his images lies in their mysteriousness; and the artist's own reticence about his work, and his self-imposed isolation during the later years of his life, create a picture of a man who is himself a mystery. Nancy Grimes's illuminating essay offers an insightful analysis of French's work and explores the influences that shaped his career, including his years spent with Paul Cadmus in Italy and his summers on Fire Island, and the influence of Carl Jung and William Butler Yeats on his work. Several drawings are included, as well as a major chronology and selected exhibition history, making this book the first complete reference source of French's painting and career.