Michel Nedjar

1947-

Born into an immigrant Jewish tailor’s family, Michel Nedjar spent his childhood mesmerized by the clothes and materials abundant at the family residence near Paris. When he was 13 he saw a documentary about the Holocaust which affected him deeply. Leaving school early in 1962, he trained as a tailor, then, following compulsory military service when he spent time in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis, he traveled to Mexico in the first of many voyages abroad. He was fascinated by the vivid colors of the Mexican dolls and began to create his own versions on his return. Working on his grandmother’s market stall, Nedjar made use of any remnants or found materials to create clothed figures and animals.   His rag dolls were initially figurative but soon became more abstract and grotesque in style. His powerful paintings are produced on all possible surfaces, from canvas to envelopes. They are normally of a dark, shadowy quality, giving the subjects of man and beast an almost sinister character. Nedjar was a founding member of l’Aracine, the leading French art brut collection, now housed in the Musée d’Art Moderne Lille Métropole.  He is also a successful experimental filmmaker and he received national recognition at the Pompidou Centre in 1987.  ¹