Biography

Jacques Duval-Brasseur (1934 – 2021)

Jacques Duval-Brasseur was born in Tours in 1934. He lived there until 1939. He left France for Algeria, in Algiers, where he spent his childhood, then the war, before returning to France in the Cotentin region.

At 17, he broke away from his family and moved to Cherbourg, where he enrolled at the Beaux-Arts school. The courses he took there, while working various jobs to support himself, confirmed his artistic vocation, which he had felt since childhood. However, it took him ten years before a company entrusted him with a decoration department that opened his path. He took the opportunity to begin creating objects, sculpting using whatever materials he could find from wreckers or scrap metal dealers. He created his first abstract sculptures from car sheet metal, insects with moped fuel tanks. He worked instinctively, seeking to master materials.

In 1969, thanks to Jean Dive, who had noticed and appreciated his creations, he presented four large abstract sculptures for the first time at the Maison et Jardin Gallery. This marked the beginning of his success. The Shah of Iran acquired one of the most beautiful sculptures, and actor David Niven, also captivated, purchased one. Other famous collectors would follow.

Jacques Duval-Brasseur died in Pau in the Pyrénées Atlantiques in 2021.