JACQUES VILLEGLÉ AND THE STREETS OF PARIS

A biography presents a detailed look at a French artist best known for his collages.

Jacques Villeglé was born in Brittany in 1926. He lived in Nantes during the Nazi occupation, and, after the Liberation in 1944, he moved to Paris. In that city, he liked to roam like a flâneur. His walks turned into a search for something special: posters. Villeglé developed a style in which he tore posters from the streets and rearranged them into something new. His works are full of fragments, letters, and sometimes clear images. They are often named for the streets where the posters were found. The materials were culled from advertisements, political proclamations, and anything else put up for Parisians to see. The book is filled with color photographs of the results, though it is not just about Villeglé’s art. Much is written about his life as well as the time in which he became an artist. He was well acquainted with individuals like Yves Klein and Raymond Hains. Villeglé was in Paris when the American artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg came there in the 1960s. The volume, which includes historical photos, follows Villeglé’s life into the modern day. Conrad creates an intimate feel by often quoting directly from conversations he had with Villeglé, who died in June 2022 in Paris. Villeglé recalled signing a manifesto as part of the newly formed Nouveaux Réalistes art movement with other artists: “I had some misgivings about the whole thing.” With high-quality images, the engrossing book also allows close inspection of the art itself. In Rue de Vaugirard (Bas-Meudon), from 1991, a vivid mix of numbers, French words, and torn images of people, there is much to uncover simply by looking carefully. But some chapters delve into the mundane. For instance, the author explains how, when Villeglé was in San Francisco, he drove the artist to “the Palace of the Legion of Honor, a museum built in the 1920’s, which is a replica of the Palais de la Legion d’Honneur in Paris.” The anecdote does not yield much intriguing information. Despite such lulls, the volume proves to be an indispensable resource. Even though Villeglé is not a household name, his work and life are skillfully explored here.

A thorough, engaging, and personal survey of an oft-neglected 20th-century artist.