Jean-Michel Folon

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Jean-Michel Folon (March 1, 1934, Uccle, Belgium - October 20, 2005, Monaco) was a Belgian artist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor. Folon was born in Brussels in 1934 where he studied architecture. In 1955 he settled in a gardener’s house in the outskirts of Paris. During five years he drew morning, noon and night. In 1985 he moved to Monaco where he worked in a big workshop surrounded by numerous artist.

The first exhibition of his watercolors was in New York in 1969 in the Lefebre Gallery. One year later he exhibited in Tokyo and in the Il Milione gallery in Milan. He also participated in the XXVth Biennale of Venice. In 1973 he joined the selection of Belgian artists in the XXVth Biennale of São Paulo where he was granted the Grand Price of Painting. During the years his work concentrated on different techniques: watercolor, etching, silkscreen, illustrations, mosaics, stained glass, ... which showed the diversity of his art. He also designed numerous posters, often for humanitarian causes. Around 1988 he created his first sculptures made out of wood. From then on moved on creating scultures in clay, plaster, bronze and marble, while continuing painting.

Several museums dedicated exhibits to him. Among those the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1971, the Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam in 1976, the Institute of Contemporary Art in London in 1977, the Musée Picasso d'Antibes in 1984, the Museo Correr in Venice in 1986, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires in 1987, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1990, La Pedrera in Barcelona in 1993, the Bunkamura in Tokyo in 1995, the Musée Olympique in Lausanne in 1996 and the Museo Morandi in Bologna in 1996-97. In 1999 an exhibition of big sculptures was presented in the Galerie Guy Pieters in Saint-Paul de Vence. In 2000 he opened the Fondation Folon, which presents the essentials of his work in the region he grew up in. In 2001 the city of Lisbon presented a big retrospective of his sculptures in the Castelo de São Jorge, which dominates the city. In 2003 he created the decoration for Puccini’s La Bohème for the Puccini Festival in Italy. The president of the French Repuplic, Jacques Chirac, awarded him the Legion of Honour in the Palais d’Elysée. In 2004 he became a UNICEF ambassador. In 2005 the city of Florence opened to him the doors of the Palazzo Vecchio and the Forte Belvedere for a grand retrospective of his work.