An artist of Bulgarian origin, born in 1941 in Sofia, Jacques Grinberg lived from 1954 to 1962 in Israel where he studied under Israeli painters at the Avni Institute of Art before settling in Paris in 1962. From then on, he frequented Montparnasse, but also drew inspiration from the work of De Kooning, a key figure in American abstract expressionism and action painting. He quickly abandoned the abstraction of the early days for an expression that is reminiscent of Maryan, Rebeyrolle, Saura or the Cobra movement and joined the artists of the New Figuration. Considered a third way, compared to the abstraction and new realism in the air in Paris and American Pop Art in the same decade, the New Figuration quickly adopted a figurative painting that also wanted to be critical. This is the very position adopted by Grinberg, whose painting reflects his strong political and social involvement. “His aggressiveness, although quiet and mute, is incontestable. His painting refuses to please and to let itself be wrapped in easy harmonizations that the content does not require; it insists on preserving all the force of its expression, even if it is this shamelessness and this arrogant brutality that he does not want to deny”1. Grinberg stands out in this from a part of the artists of the movement, who unfortunately will not succeed in asserting themselves. The latter will partly join the Narrative Figuration (Rancillac, Télémaque, Monory, etc.).
Grinberg’s position remains a kind of shock aesthetic, mobilized against the atrocities of war and fascism. Critical and accusatory figures are at the heart of his painting: “The Generals” in 1964, “Nationalist in a Cart” in 1965. During these years, Grinberg participated in the group exhibitions “Rencontres” (Galerie Krugier, Switzerland), “Moralities” (Galerie Lahumière-Levin, Paris), “Figures and Stories” (Galerie Hildebrand, Austria), “Galeries Pilotes” (Musée de Lausanne). Grinberg was represented by the Shoeller Gallery (1964-1969) and participated in several exhibitions that were essential events of the time, such as the Salon de la Jeune peinture (1964, 1965), Salon de Mai (1964, 1965), Grands et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui (1964, 1965, 1966), benefiting from critics who considered him one of the “active forces” of the New Figuration. The Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris is paying tribute to Jacques Grinberg from June 10 to September 18, 2016, by presenting a collection of his works, from 1963 to 2010, as part of its exhibitions of monographic collections from Parisian studios.