Pierre Molinier
Pierre Molinier (Agen, France 1900 - Bordeaux, France 1976) was a French Surrealist painter and photographer.
Biography
Pierre Molinier was born in Agen (France) on an emblematic date : 13 April 1900, a Good Friday. His father was a house painter and decorator specialized in marble and wood imitation; his mother was a dressmaker and his aunt an ironer. During his childhood, he was raised surrounded by women, often wearing their shoes and stockings. He spent his school years with the Brothers of the Agen « Ecoles chrétiennes », and not at all, as he pretended, with the Jesuits. At the age of 13, he starts working with his father as an apprentice painter and takes evening courses at the Agen Municipal School of Drawing. Having been in love with his younger sister for a long time, he takes a photograph of her on her deathbed, in 1918, thus starting his quest for androgyny identity. Around that date, he settles down in Bordeaux, Place de la Bourse, in the Saint-Pierre Quarter. The following year, he sets up his own business, as a house painter. He does his military service from 1920 to 1922, then stays in Paris where he visits museums frequently. In 1923, he moves to 5 rue du Parlement-Saint-Pierre, still in the Bordeaux Old Quarter. The first exhibition of his paintings takes place in 1927. Until 1951, every year he shows several paintings (figurative or fauve landscapes and portraits) in the Bordeaux « Salons ». In 1928, he exhibits a painting in Paris, at the famous « Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts », and founds the « Société des Artistes Indépendants Bordelais » together with several other painters. During 1931, he moves in the apartment where he will stay for good, 7 rue des Faussets, in the Bordeaux Old Quarter. In 1940, he is mobilized as a male nurse, taken prisoner, then demobilized. He takes refuge in the Bordeaux countryside with his family. Giving up figuratism, he makes his first abstract painting Satin blanc. His father commits suicide, by taking medicine, in 1944. After the presumed visit of the Dalai Lama envoys, who asked him to reproduce symbolic mandalas, his inspiration changes into esoterism : this visit was dated by Molinier, vaguely, around 1936 ; considering the evolution of his paintings, 1946 would be much more likely. The first painting characteristic of his erotic period, Les amants à la fleur, is produced in 1948. Next year, his wife leaves the marital home tired of his infidelities and provocative behaviour. In 1950, he builds a farcical « Premature tomb » topped with an engraved black cross : « Here lies/Pierre MOLINIER/born on 13 April 1900 died around 1950/he was a man without morals/he was proud of it and gloried in it/No need to pray for him. » He takes photographs of himself, posing in his studio as crucified and having committed suicide, as well as on his deathbed in his apartement. 1951 is the major turning point in Molinier's artistic career : he breaks off with the « Artistes Indépendants Bordelais », following a scandal at the Fall Salon caused by his veiled painting Le grand combat, which represents an entanglement of bodies engaged in a love joust. In 1952, he gets in touch with the French novelist and art collector André Malraux in order to exhibit his paintings in Paris and his daughter Françoise, with whom he has been in love for a long time, leaves the family apartment. He writes to André Breton, the leading figure of the Surrealism movement, in 1955, and sends him a portfolio containing photographs of his paintings. André Breton falls in love with « those magical works » and sends him a series of enthusiastic letters (« You are today a master in vertigo »). After exhibiting 18 paintings (and a few drawings) at the Paris gallery run by Breton « A l'Etoile scellée » (27 January - 17 February 1956), he contributes to several issues of the magazine Le surréalisme, même. He also meets the writer and poet Joyce Mansour, « the Divine », and starts taking erotic photographs. In 1957, near Bordeaux, he buys a shady bar (the « Texas-Bar ») for his so-called « natural daughter », Monique, who was a notorious prostitute. In 1960, after slapping his wife in the face violently, firing above the head of his cousin, he spends a month in prison. He gives up his house painting business in order to devote his time to his art. The following year, he is condemned (fine and damages) for the 1960 events and his wife gets a divorce. In Summer 1962, Raymond Borde comes to Bordeaux in order to shoot the film Molinier , an homage to the painter's world (private screenings in 1964 and public screening of the censured version in 1966). He writes to Emmanuelle Arsan (author of the erotic novel Emmanuelle) and then meets her in Paris in December 1964 : both engage in a passionate correspondence and Molinier represents her in several of his works. Numerous meetings with the Surrealist painters Clovis Trouille and Gérard Lattier take place during 1965. He shoots a rudimentary film, Mes jambes. His plans for publishing an album of photomontages on Le chaman et ses créatures begin to take shape in 1966 and Roland Villeneuve, a specialist of the Devil, is approached for writing the preface. Many publishers will give up printing the album, which will be published eventually in 1995. A second meeting with Emmanuelle Arsan is organized in Bordeaux in Spring 1967. As a result of his correspondence with the Austrian art historian Peter Gorsen, in December, he meets Hanel Koeck, a German fetishist of legs and shoes, who is also a sado-masochist. Then begins a lengthy and impassioned correspondence with her. She will pay him several visits and will become the model of many paintings and photomontages. At the same period, a yound friend and model, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, shoots Satan bouche un coin, a film where Molinier appears in his fetishist apparel. In 1969, he orders the exhumation of his father's corpse and keeps his bones inside a wooden box in the shape of a small coffin, rue des Faussets. An album (Molinier) on his paintings is published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert. His gall-bladder, which hurts him at regular intervals and affects considerably his daily life, is removed in 1970. Two years later, he bequeaths his body to the Faculty of Medicine, in order for it to be dissected and Peter Gorsen publishes in Munich an album of photographs and photomontages (Pierre Molinier, lui-même), with an essay in German. In March 1975, Molinier takes a series of photographs of the young Swiss painter, Luciano Castelli, in transvestite, and another series with Thierry Agullo, a Bordeaux iconoclastic artist, on the theme of Indecency. At the end of the month, Peter Gorsen pays him a visit (for the first and unique time), accompanied by Hanel Koeck. In September, Molinier's son Jacques dies in an accident (he made a mistake while manipulating explosives). Molinier resumes his contacts with his daughter Françoise. At the end of February 1976, he takes a series of photographs of Thierry Agullo in transvestite on the theme of Androgyny. On 3rd March 1976, Molinier commits suicide by shooting himself in the mouth, what he had announced again and again. His body is transferred to the Bordeaux Morgue, then to the Faculty of Medecine. After being dissected, his remains have been buried in a Bordeaux cemetery.
Bibliography (selection)
ABEILLE, Jacques. Pierre Molinier, présence de l'exil, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine page éditeurs, 2005, 123 p., 2 ill.
BRETON, André. « Pierre Molinier », in : Le surréalisme et la peinture, Paris : Gallimard, 1966, 427 p.
GORSEN, Peter. Pierre Molinier, lui-même. Essay über den surrealistischen Hermaphroditen, Munich : Rogner und Bernhard, 1972, 39 p., 41 ill.
MACCHERONI, Henri. Un après-midi chez Pierre Molinier, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine Page éditeurs, 2005, 48 p., 18 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Molinier, Paris : Jean-Jacques Pauvert Editeur, 1969, 92 p., 89 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Les orphéons magiques, Collection L'Autre Pente, Bordeaux : Thierry Agullo Editeur, 1979, 60 p., 6 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Cent photographies érotiques, Collection Images obliques, Paris : Editions Borderie, 1979, 112 p., 107 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Pierre Molinier, Genève : Bernard Letu Editeur, 1979, 80 p., 35 ill.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Le chaman et ses créatures, Bordeaux : William Blake & Co., 1995, 96 p. [Preface by Pierre Molinier, presentation text by Roland Villeneuve, photomontages, drawings and reproductions of paintings]
MOLINIER, Pierre. Der Schamane und seine Geschöpfe, Munich : Schirmer/Mosel, 1995, 96 p.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Entretien avec Pierre Chaveau 1972 (Texte + Enregistrement sur CD audio), Bordeaux : Editions Opales/Pleine Page, 2003, 64 p.
MOLINIER, Pierre. Je suis né homme-putain. Ecrits et dessins inédits réunis et présentés par Jean-Luc Mercié, Paris : Biro Editeur et Edition Kamel Mennour, 2005, 170 p.
PETIT, Pierre. Molinier, une vie d'enfer, Paris : Editions Ramsay/Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1992, 267 p., 86 ill. [Biography with catalogs of works, exhibitions, filmography and bibliography]
PETIT, Pierre. Molinier, une vie d'enfer, Kyoto : Jimbun Shoin, 2000, 300 p., 86 ill. [Translation in Japanese of the French edition ; revised and corrected catalogs of works, exhibitions, filmography and bibliography]
PETIT, Pierre. Pierre Molinier et la tentation de l'Orient, Bordeaux : Opales / Pleine Page éditeurs, 2005, 64 p., 24 ill.
Pierre Molinier. Die Fetische der Travestie. Fotografische Arbeiten 1965-1975, Herausgegeben von Gerhard Fisher und Peter Gorsen, Vienna : Daedalus, 1989, 122 p., 40 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Faber, Wien]
Pierre Molinier, Winnipeg : Plug-in Editions & Santa Monica : Smart Art Press, 1993, 120 p., 60 ill. [Book for a touring exhibition, Canada]
Pierre Molinier, Genève : Bärtschi-Salomon Editions, 1999, 80 p., 99 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Genève]
Pierre Molinier, Valencia : IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, 1999, 267 p., 118 ill.[Exhibition catalog, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencià]
Pierre Molinier photographe. Une rétrospective, Paris : Edition Mennour, 2000, 173 p., 160 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris]
Pierre Molinier. Jeux de miroirs, Bordeaux : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux/Le Festin, 2005, 176 p., 46 ill. [Exhibition catalog, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux]
Works
As of today, 393 paintings, 169 drawings, 28 prints, 590 photographs, 184 photomontages, 124 colour slides, 13 masks, 22 sculptures made by Molinier have been recorded.
Paintings (selection)
1918
Portrait de Madame Molinier, mère. Oil
1925
Etude de ciel d'orage. Oil : 18,5 x 24
1926
Etang à Ermenonville. Oil : 25 x 33
1927
La vallée de Bassens. Oil : 54,5 x 73
1928
Château de Madaillan. Oil : 91 x 123
La dame blonde. Oil : 27 x 35
L'homme en bleu. Oil : 73 x 60
Monastère de Sercolou en Gascogne. Oil
1929
La rue Lepic. Oil : 165 x 200
1930
L'homme au gibus. Oil : 72 x 59
La prière. Oil : 74 x 86
Les quais. Oil
La rue. Oil : 33 x 39
1931
Tapoustka. Oil : 61 x 51
1932
La vallée de Casalet. Oil : 74 x 100,5
1933
L'enfant au berceau. Oil : 38 x 48
1934
L'enfant à la chaise. Oil : 69 x 53
1935
Portrait d'enfant. Oil : 41 x 47
1936
L'homme au béret. Oil : 73 x 55
1938
L'homme au shako. Oil : 63 x 52
1940
Satin blanc. Oil : 81 x 65
1946
Amours. Oil : 41,5 x 46,5
Non conformisme. Oil
1947
Femme à la mantille. Oil : 88 x 74
1948
Les amants à la fleur. Oil : 131 x 98
L'homme au béret. Autoportrait. Oil : 73 x 60.
1949
Les amants dans la campagne. Oil : 94 x 128
Le combat des Cro-Magnon. Oil : 94 x 103
La rue. Oil : 66 x 82
1950
Les amoureuses confondues. Oil : 47 x 56
Le duel. Oil : 72 x 100
Gracieuse. Oil : 73 x 58
Holocauste. Oil : 41 x 33
Nu aux fleurs. Oil : 97 x 130
Portrait de Françoise. Oil : 90 x 67
1951
Le grand combat. Oil : 136 x 203
Je gueule gaiement ce que j'ai à dire. Oil : 80 x 100
1952
Cosmac III. Oil : 64 x 51
La dispute des trois Grâces. Oil : 61 x 51
Le messager. Oil : 51 x 73
Le peloton d'exécution. Oil
Le retour des vendanges. Oil : 81 x 100
Succube. Oil : 94 x 85
1953
Amour. Ah ! Les vaches. Oil : 41 x 33
Le château magique. Oil : 40 x 32,3
1954
Comtesse Midralgar. Oil : 86 x 70
Les dames voilées. Oil : 81 x 100
Sortilège. Oil : 35 x 25
1955
La fleur du paradis. Oil : 89 x 116
Ennazus. Oil : 60 x 51
Noitmosa. Oil : 27 x 22.
Le puits délectable. Oil : 35 x 24
Les seins étoilés No. 1. Oil : 41 x 33
Les seins étoilés No. 2. Oil : 27 x 22
1957
Le Christ puni. Oil : 73 x 59,5
1958
La boîte à fleurs. Oil : 46 x 61
1959
Le temps de la mort No.1. Oil : 81 x 100
1960
Les curieuses. Oil : 73 x 60
Madame d'O. Oil : 35 x 27
Le pas de quatre. Oil : 50 x 61
Le réveil de l'ange. Oil : 100 x 81
Susinella. Oil : 61 x 46
Le temps des assassins. Oil : 51 x 61
1961
Les dames au pistolet. Oil : 81 x 100
1962
Les amoureuses angoissées. Oil : 100 x 81
L'angoisse révoltée. OIl : 64 x 52,5
Cavalier de la Garde du Roy - 2. Oil : 24 x 33
Ce qui est solennel. Oil : 100 x 81
Corbillard No.3. Oil : 38 x 46
Corbillard No.6. Oil : 51 x 74
Culminate. Oil : 81 x 100
La flèche amoureuse. Oil : 55 x 75
Holocauste oui, holocauste non. Oil : 54 x 65
Les jumelles amoureuses dans l'oeuf oblong. Oil : 60 x 73
Les jumelles sont toujours amoureuses. Oil : 81 x 65
Petit bec - L'oeuf d'amour. Oil : 73 x 60
Sacrilège. Oil : 55 x 46
Le temps de la mort No.2. Oil : 92 x 73
1964
Le miroir. Oil : 54 x 73
1965
Les femmes actuelles sont.... Oil : 65 x 54
Oh!... Marie, mère de Dieu. Huile: 100 x 80
Les yeux du temps perdu. Oil : 50 x 61
1966
Les amoureuses. Oil : 54 x 65
Amours. Huile
Le grand combat No.2. Oil : 64 x 80
1968
Skin-D'Amourdo. Oil : 81 x 100
1969
Exémaly. Oil : 73 x 54
Pour Hanel. Oil : 52,5 x 63
1971
Le Baphomet. Oil : 60 x 55
Bonheur fou. Oil : 73 x 60
La communion d'amour. Oil : 54 x 45.
1973
L'empalée. Oil : 63 x 52,5
Jeune fille voilée. Oil : 40 x 32
1974
Les amoureuses No.2. Oil : 65 x 81
1976
Angélica. Oil : 80 x 60 [1947 ; Important modifications in 1975-1976]