Composition abstraite - Jean Marie LEDANNOIS (1940-2014)

Jean-Marie LEDANNOIS (1940-2014, France)
Abstract composition

Gouache on paper
105 x74 cm
Signed lower right
Circa 1980

The son of a peasant mother, Jean-Marie Ledannois has a very personal relationship with the earth, and is a lover of nature whose paintings represent the four elements that make it up. Water, air, earth and fire guide the choice of his characteristic color palette. Jean-Marie Ledannois works in his home-workshop in the Yvelines countryside, while listening to Baroque opera. The subjects of his gouaches are not limited to the landscapes themselves, but also the encounter between the reality he observes and his unconscious, the emotions that emerge.

His inspiration comes from the woods and fields that surround him, but his childhood with a philosopher tutor has encouraged him to take an intellectual rather than a decorative approach to painting. Jean-Marie Ledannois' gouaches conceal a long, painstaking process and are the fruit of intense reflection. He appreciates life and work, and has a passion for the technical aspect of his art. He loves materials, tools and supports, which he places on a table after having, as he puts it, "done his cooking". In fact, he prepares his colors himself, mixing pigments, gum arabic and water.

Faced with his works, the viewer is initially transfixed by the power and beauty of the colors, prompting him to focus his attention on the present moment. Secondly, they are drawn inside the work, hypnotized by subtle, delicate internal movements of light and shadow. As the artist projects his own dualities into his gouaches, he then provokes in the viewer an influx of contrasting emotions such as joy and melancholy, appeasement or energy. It's true that Jean-Marie Ledannois' painting is both raw and nuanced, feminine and virile, melancholy and happy. These emotions allow the viewer to search for his or her own sensibility, the better to appropriate the work.