Villon, Jacques

(1875-1963)

   painter, engraver

   Born in Danville, Gaston Duchamp, or Jacques Villon, as he is known (he adopted his pseudonym in honor of François villon), was the brother of the artists marcel duchamp, suzanne duchamp, and Raymond duchamp-villon. He studied in Rouen before coming to Paris in 1892 and worked as an engraver, making posters and drawings of Parisian scenes in a style similar to that of henri de toulouse-lautrec. He also did sketches for Rire and L'Assiette au buerre. After producing works similar to the impressionists and fauvists, he found his own style in cubism, and around 1911, his studio became one of the principal cubists' gathering places. seeking to base his own compositions on mathematical concepts, he reduced the subjects to an abstract play of lines and colored surfaces (Soldats en marche, 1913), or bright tones (Jeu, 1919), a style that continued through the 1920s. After 1935, he sought to produce a pictorial transposition of more traditional subjects and, after 1940, landscapes (Homme dessinant, 1935; Le Nageur, 1936; a series of Potagers, 1941-42; Les Moissons, 1943), while also producing completely nonfigurative works (Les grands Fonds, 1945).