Fred Deux - Grey Surrealism I - Signed Original Etching

Fred Deux - Grey I - Signed Original Etching Signed and Numbered Edition of 100 Dimensions: 24 x 14 cm Fred Deux Fred Deux, illustrator, oral poet, writer, and, under the pseudonym Jean Douassot, author of a cult book, La Gana, was a singular artist who cannot be categorised in terms of art fashions and trends. This autodidact, born in the basement of a large house in Boulogne-Billancourt to a working-class family, constantly had to overcome, as he would say. “He had to overcome”: overcome the basement walls to access the life which called him and burnt inside him. Overcome the barriers between the arts, moving from drawing to the written word, and from the page to the tape recorder, in the face of which he recounted stories to himself in a sort of endless reverie, constantly exploring the unknown in him. Overcoming and being overcome: gradually immersing himself in drawing, so that it was life itself which overcame him and surrendered to him. Timeline 1924 Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris. The Deux family lived in the basement of a building close to the Seine that was often flooded. These living conditions formed the biographical core around in which the artist would develop his work as a future writer and artist. 1942 Deux worked in a factory as an electrician and night guard. 1943 Deux becomes part of the FTP group to resist against the factory. And then joined the Maquis du Doubs. 1945 At the liberation, Deux joined the Moroccan Goumier, and took part of the campaigns of Vosges, Alsace and Germany. 1947 Returned to France. Installation in Marseille. Worked in an important library that belonged to the family of his wife. 1948 Discovered Breton, Bataille, Cendrars, Peret, Sade... and founded the sub-group of Surrealists in Marseille and formed a link with the literary magazine of Marseille, Cahiers du Sud Encounters the works of Paul Klee. He begins creating his first stains with paint for bicycle and impressions (fabric and ink). At the same time, he begins to take notes for what would become ''Les Rats'', first version of ''La Gana''. 1951 Meets Cecile Reims, engraver, who becomes his partner. 1954 Leaves the surrealist group. 1958 Published ''La Gana'' with Maurice Nadeau. 1999 Enters the Galerie Alain Margaron, who exclusively represents Deux since 2001. 2015 Death of the artist, at age 91. Public Collections Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon Bibliothèque nationale, Paris Centre national d’art contemporain, Paris Musée Cantini, Marseille Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun Musée de Bochum, Allemagne Musée Panorama, Allemagne Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Suisse