Jean Xceron
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Born in Greece
in 1890, Jean Xceron arrived in New York at the age of 14. After sporadic
studies at Washington’s Corcoran Art School, he moved to New York
City where he became part of a small group of artists interested in the
geometric structure of objects. One of these artists was Joaquin Torres-Garcia
who befriended Xceron and encouraged him to follow him to Paris. Moving
there in 1927, he became a champion of non-objective art, working in the
spirit of such militant groups as Abstraction-Creation and Cercle et Carre.
With World War II looming on the horizon, Xceron returned to New York in 1938 bringing with him his challenging modern sensibilities and keen eye for non-objective painting. Welcomed as an established figure in the European avant-garde, he arrived at the time that artists were agitating for recognition of the advanced currents in modern art and had begun to form the important exhibiting group, the American Abstract Artists. By the end of the 40’s, he had modified his work to a large extent, rejecting non-objective orthodoxy. This change was not apparent to the uneducated eye, since Xceron never abandoned the language of abstract art: he used its grammar to paint as a poet would, using familiar figures but putting them in unaccustomed contexts. His paintings took on a mystery and lyricism entirely his own and his language of geometric abstraction, informed by the various climates which nourished him, remains a vital force in our time. |