Jacques MONORY (1924-2018) - Lot 5

Jacques MONORY (1924-2018) Naked, 2002 Silkscreen, numbered and signed. Paper : Velin d'Arches 250 g Format : 270 x 380 mm Justified 36/ 120 Note: A major figure in French narrative figuration, Jacques Monory has been developing an instantly recognizable body of work since the 1960s, dominated by a monochrome blue palette and an iconography borrowed from cinema, photography and the news. His work questions the latent violence of contemporary images and the emotional distance they establish. In Naked (2002), Monory brings together the nude and the gun, two recurring motifs in his universe. The female body, treated in a cold, spectral blue, appears both sensual and vulnerable, while the monumental revolver in the foreground introduces immediate dramatic tension. The juxtaposition of these elements creates a climate of silent menace, typical of the suspended narrative so dear to the artist. The silkscreen makes full use of Monory's cinematic aesthetic: tight framing, close-up effects, reduced depth and monochrome reinforce the impression of a frozen scene, extracted from a narrative whose outcome is unknown to the viewer. Blue, the artist's emblematic color, acts here as an emotional filter, establishing an icy distance between the viewer's gaze and the violence suggested.