From June 28 to October 13, 2024, as part of a tribute season to Jean Hugo (1894-1984) in the Hérault region, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death, the Fabre Museum in Montpellier is dedicating all of its temporary exhibition spaces to this complete artist, whose immense work has yet to be fully appreciated.
With the concomitant exhibition which will be on view at the Paul Valéry museum in Sète, the Montpellier event will finally allow the public to measure how much this artist was able to take up the challenge of bringing the name of Hugo to the rank of the best of creation artistic.
The magical look
Through a collection of more than 330 pieces, including numerous loans from French and foreign institutionsthe exhibition Jean Hugo, the magical gaze aims to present the artist and his work, from the beginnings to the Second World War, in its diversity of expression, as well as in the cultural history which accompanies, both of an exciting richness.
With the Sète proposal which will focus on Jean Hugo, between heaven and earth, and that of the Médard museum in Lunel, the city where he lived for more than 50 years, which will return to his attachment to the territory, the tribute paid to him in the summer of 2024 wishes to mark a new stage in the knowledge and recognition of this artist, who was, in turn, a decorator, painter, poet and writer. This exhibition benefits from an exceptional loan from the Centre Pompidou.
Jean Hugo created more than 1,000 paintings and 3,000 drawings, collaborated on nearly fifty theatrical or dance productions, and this throughout his life. He contributed greatly to several decorative projects, notably during the famous “Roaring Twenties” and participated in major artistic programs abroad.
Illustrating the greatest authors of his time, he also showed great invention in his fruitful relationship with the publisher Pierre-André Benoît and wrote exquisite Memoirs, where humor competes with poetry, based on scrupulously kept notebooks which make him an exceptional witness to his time.
Jean Hugo
Born in 1894 and died in 1984, he lived through almost the entire 20th century, both an actor and a keen observer of all the social and cultural worlds of which he was a part, decade after decade.
Numerous exhibitions, often focusing on one or another aspect of his art, have been dedicated to him. After the exhibitions and retrospectives in Toronto in 1973, Paris in 1976, and Montpellier in 1995, the 2024 event season in Occitanie will shine a spotlight on the full extent of his artistic work.
Fabre Museum website
