Jean Hirtzel

1936 - 1999

Under JEAN HIRTZEL the different stages of his artistic research and of his life are featured, as the two aspects are intimately connected. The research themes appear chronologically. It is not that they are abandoned during the next life stages, but are integrated into new developments. They fade and then reappear over the course of the artist’s work.

From the start, Jean Hirtzel’s creative experience is determined by a clear stance : a total commitment that excludes dilettantism, part-time occupation or a submission to trends. In his view, a visual artist’s commitment is not concerned by the application of an aesthetic theory or by the demands of the critique of society.

Over the years, Jean Hirtzel wonders not about the fate of his artwork once finished, but on its emergence, on the conditions of its creation at the moment of its completion.

Nonetheless, this research is not closed in on itself, because the variables of travel and the unexpected caused by the encounter with other ways of life ceaselessly motivate new experimentations.