Jean-Michel Sanejouand
# Jean-Michel Sanejouand

Jean-Michel Sanejouand (18 July 1934 – 18 March 2021) was a French artist. His work ranged from environments to monumental sculptures, from readymade-like objects, to paintings of oneiric landscapes in which (usually) one of his sculptures stands.

## Biography

Born in Lyon, France, in 1934, he received a degree in law from the Institut d'études politiques de Lyon in 1955. He lived and worked in Paris between 1959 and 1993.

His work can be encapsulated in a series of distinct periods, which the artist titled.

From 1962 to 1963, he worked on a series of sculptural paintings that he called "Charge-Objets" (English: "Charge-Objects").

From 1969 to 1974 he created a series of works under the general title of "Organisations d'espace" (English: "Space Organizations").

He died 17 March 2021 at his home in Maine-et-Loire, France.

## Solo exhibitions

* 1967 "Première organisation d'espace", Ecole Polytechnique (Paris).
* 1968 "Deux organisations d'espace", Galerie Yvon Lambert (Paris).
* 1973 "Les Organisations d'espace de Sanejouand", Centre National d'Art Contemporain (Paris).
* 1979 "Espaces-Peintures", The Antwerp Gallery, FIAC (Paris).
* 1982 "Espaces-Peintures", Lens Fine Art Gallery (Antwerp, Belgium).
* 1986 "Rétrospective: des Charges-Objets aux Espaces-Peintures", Palais des Beaux-Arts (Lyon, France).
* 1991 "Espaces-Peintures 1978-1986", MAC (Villeneuve d'Ascq, France).
* 1991 "Les Charges-Objets 1963-1967", Galerie Froment-Putman (Paris).
* 1995 "Rétrospective 1963-1995", MNAM Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris).
* 1996 "Peintures", Galerie Barbier, FIAC (Paris).
* 2002 "Libre et Change", Galerie Chez Valentin (Paris).
* 2005 "Sanejouand", Le Plateau (Paris).
* 2011 "Espaces et Cie", Galerie MAM, Drawing now, Carrousel du Louvre (Paris).
* 2012 "Retrospectivement", Frac des Pays de la Loire (Carquefou), HAB gallery (Nantes), as part of "Jean Michel Sanejouand's year in Pays de la Loire".
* 2015 "Un peu d'espace(s)", Galerie Art : Concept (Paris).
* 2018 "Beyond color", Galerie Art : Concept (Paris).
* 2018 "Operation contact", Galerie Kreo (Paris and London).

## Group exhibitions

* 1967 "Superlund", Lunds Konstall (Sweden). Curator: Pierre Restany. Also featuring: Arman, Christo, Erik Dietman, Yona Friedman, François Morellet, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Nicolas Schöffer, Constantin Xenakis...
* 1976 Venice Biennale, French pavilion (Italy). Curator: Pierre Restany. Also featuring: Fred Forest, Raymond Hains, Alain Jacquet, Bertrand Lavier, Jean-Pierre Raynaud...
* 1986 "Qu'est-ce que l'art français ?" (What is French art ?), Toulouse (France). Curator: Bernard Lamarche-Vadel. Also featuring: Erik Dietman, Robert Filliou, Gérard Garouste, Gérard Gasiorowski, Jacques Villeglé...
* 1992 Universal Exposition of Seville, French pavilion (Seville, Spain).
* 1999 "Les Champs de la Sculpture" (Sculptures of Champs-Élysées), where "Le Silence" was first exhibited. Also featuring: Tony Cragg, Erik Dietman, Barry Flanagan, Raymond Hains, Keith Haring, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Bernar Venet, Lawrence Weiner...
* 2006 "La force de l'Art", Grand Palais (Paris). Curator: Anne Tronche.
* 2012 "Ends of the earth: Land Art to 1974", MOCA (Los Angeles, USA).
* 2015 "Cycle des histoires sans fin", MAMCO (Geneva, Switzerland).
* 2020 "Platform: Paris/Brussels", David Zwirner's online viewing room.

## Monumental sculptures

* 1996 "Le Silence" (The Silence), a bronze sculpture whose largest version is two meters high. Until 2019, It was installed in a private park of sculptures near Biarritz (France).
* 2005 Le Magicien (The Magician), a five-meters high bronze, installed in the gardens of Palais Saint-Georges, close to the railway station of Rennes (France).

## Collections

* Centre Pompidou, Paris
* Fonds régional d'art contemporain, Ile de France
* Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon
* Philadelphia Museum of Art
