Piece of the month

Every month, the Cristel Éditeur d’Art Centre selects, presents and exhibits a drawing or a painting in Saint-Malo. A choice of the heart and a choice of reason, with a work that is always linked to the history of art.

MADE IN BREIZH,

by Jacky Lézin

It’s understood that Jacky Lézin didn’t like to date his paintings: a token of his freedom, so that he could return to them one day, if need be… But in the case of the iconic Made in Breizh, titled in lower case for the sake of balance, we at least know when it was first revealed to the public. We can even specify the place: the Galerie du Sallé, in Quimper, in 1986. The gallery is run by Gwénaël and Geneviève Le Berre, in the shadow of a majestic cathedral that has watched over the fruitful brotherhood of the Seiz Breur.
Was Jacky Lézin, born in 1940, one of them? No. But, as a prodigal son and prodigy, he was passionate about this artistic adventure that was so important in modernising Breton customs. So when Danièle Novello-Floc’hlay decided in 1984, with the support of Alexis Gourvennec, to officially launch the “Made in Breizh” label, Jacky Lézin chose to create a work of the same name. Iconic work, as we said. Unexpected, vibrant and joyful work, where the saucepan of the Trente Glorieuses sits next to the blast of a bombard, where Marilyn’s make-up meets the old peasant headdress. Finally, a museum piece. She was the first to introduce pop art into the Breton tradition. Unless you think it’s Breton tradition that’s come to celebrate pop art…
We hdd be remiss if we didn ot mention it: Jacky Lézin, struck down by a heart attack in 1995, will go down in art history as the only Breton painter to be included in the prestigious Figuration Narrative dictionary. In other words, the only artist at the western tip of Europe to have developed the philosophy and colour codes of a polymorphous group that included Klasen, Erró, Adami, Arroyo, Télémaque, Rancillac, Monory and Fromanger.
Remarkable companions! As art historian Gérard Gassiot-Talabot put it, they “felt the need to depict an increasingly complex and rich everyday reality, combining the games of the city with the sacred objects of a civilisation devoted to the cult of consumer goods”. In his Made in Breizh, Jacky Lézin echoes them. He tells the story of Brittany from yesterday, which has become the one we know today. He senses that she is under threat. It shows her in searches. On a quest in front of a great emptiness, in front of of a great white….
Masterpiece!

Christophe Penot