Jean Lecoultre

The painter and engraver Jean Lecoultre (Laussane, 1930) is considered one of the most renowned international Swiss artists. Ever since his stay in Spain during the fifties has maintained an intense artistic relationship with this country. Evidence of this are the recent individual exhibitions celebrated during Spring 2002 at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque de Madrid, the Antonio Pérez Foundation of Cuenca and the Centro Cultural Círculo del Arte of Barcelona. But also the Centre d'Art Présence van Gogh de Saint Rémy de Provence (Summer 2002) and the famous Pierre Gianada Foundation of Martigny (Fall 2002) have hosted important one-man shows of Lecoultre's work.

Lecoultre is admired above all as a draughtsman and an engraver. He discovered engraving in 1963 and it became one of his favourite means of expression. His style shows a satiric and deep interpretation of the most aggressive aspects of modernity through the confrontation of human figures with technical gadgets, going deep into the perversion of shapes and materials. In 1975 he begins to paint his &#171series&#187, periodical cycles of works that come together or crystallize around one theme in common.