Jean Michel Mathieux-Marie

Born in 1936, Mathieux-Marie was trained at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, where he studied painting, engraving, and architecture. These disciplines converge harmoniously in his prints, which often depict vast, empty structures—corridors, colonnades, archways, and void-like courtyards—rendered in fine, precise lines and subtle tonal gradations. Though devoid of people, his spaces feel charged with presence, like abandoned stages awaiting a drama that has already played out.

Influenced by the metaphysical stillness of Giorgio de Chirico and the architectural fantasias of Piranesi, Mathieux-Marie creates compositions that are both rigorously constructed and emotionally resonant. His use of light—often diffuse, entering obliquely or caught in a moment of shadow—gives his work an almost sacred stillness, as if time itself has paused within the frame.

He is also known for his book illustrations, especially of literary classics and poetry, where his etchings enhance the text’s emotional and symbolic undercurrents rather than simply depict scenes. In these collaborations, his skill as a visual interpreter of literature becomes clear—he reads not only with the eye but with a poetic sensibility.

Jean-Michel Mathieux-Marie's work has been exhibited widely and is held in numerous public collections, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. His prints invite quiet reflection, drawing the viewer into a world where architecture becomes metaphor, and silence speaks volumes.

BIOGRAPHY
1947 Born in Paris
1971 Ecole National Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
1984 Prix de la ville au Salon de Bayeux
1984 Paul-Louis Weiller Prize, Academy of Fine Art
1994 Grand Prize du Salon des Artistes Francais

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Royal Academy of Fine Art in Madrid
Bibliotheque Historique de Paros
Musee Baron Gerard
Bibliotheque de Bayeux
National Library of Paris
National Library of Spain
Musee de Dignes

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
1997 Gallery Kieffer, Paris
1994 Galery Horizon, Paris
1993 Gallery Breheret, Paris
1993 Musee Baron Gerard, Bayeux
1992 Hotel de Ville de port en Bessin
1992 Gallery Michelle Broutta, Paris
1991 Gallery Etienne de Causans, Paris
1990 Gallery Actuaryus, Strasbourg
1990 Gallery l’Angle aigu, Bruxelles
1990 Gallery Vermeer, Nantes