Rémy Lejeune


Remy Ladoré is Rémy Lejeune’s artist name he was a French draftsman, engraver and painter.

Biography

1932 to 1955 : studies of music and drawing

He learns to play the piano, eight hours a day during one year, he will pursues this art playing Mozart and sonatas by Beethoven and Bach. 15 years old, decision is made to move to Paris in order to join the Académe Charpentier and get prepared for the admission competition to l'École nationale supérieure des Métiers d'Art. Successful, he spends the following three years studying at Metiers d’Art. Graduated and willing to carry on drawing, he joins the Académie Julian in 1952. Three years later, his first engraving Spring is published by La guilde de la gravure.

1956 to 1961 : first exhibitions

Rémy Lejeune’s first exhibition in Paris takes place in the galerie Guénéguaud. Critics are very positive, he will subsequently illustrate the art magazine l'Information artistique during three years. Marcel Sauvage, a French art critic writes a laudatory review about his works entitled The power and diversity of drawing. He participates in a group show, Pointe et burin , his first engravings are exhibited at the Club du Panthéon. He designs and produces all decors for the exhibition of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Illustration of Rameau's Nephew by Diderot and Le roman de Renart woodcuts, two-tone.

1962 to 1978 : illustration of Boileau’s complete works, prix de Rome competition

He is selected by the printer/publisher for book collecting Pierre Bricage to illustrate Boileau’s complete works in five volumes. This choice is made after having been in competition with the 1960 Prix de Rome prize winner. Five years will be necessary to fulfill this work. Competing for the Prix de Rome 1962, he obtains the third place. From 1965 to 1978, he works for a company where he is responsible for design and production of stands decors.

1979 to 1996 : various publications, artist name Rémy Ladoré

Publication of 12 drawings : The different Loves or Moments of Paradise. 1981, Rémy Lejeune decides to adopt the pseudonym Rémy Ladoré. The origin of his choice is the repetition of a group of three musical notes from Beethoven's Tenth Sonata. He is selected as professor of drawing and painting for the City of Paris in 1987. This title is due to R. Forgas intervening with Jean Cardot focusing on the talent of Rémy Lejeune.
1988, he publishes a Collection of engravings : ‘’Fragments of Happiness nearing Bliss’’, presented at the "Salon d'Automne". The Taylor foundation organizes a one-man exhibition for him in 1989. exhibition of an engraving made for a text by Jean Racine and the engravings illustrating the works of Boileau at the Salon des Artistes Français.

Recognition

The French critic Marcel Sauvage wrote :
« There is a nobility in drawing, in personal meaning, in the respect for traditions and in the precise movements of a drawing. Rémy Lejeune is thus one of the first -if not the first- draftsman of his generation to devote himself to realism and surrealism, through the moving purity of line and form, as well as the sensual and spiritual brilliance of the motifs. He pursues these with total objectivity and a serious sense of humor. »

Works