This Official Painter of the Navy is also a sculptor who delights in modelling maritime species.

 

Birds, otters, bears have his predilection. But he does not content himself with sculpting this familiar fauna with guaranteed success. He enjoys making fish, octopuses, rays, succeeding in immortalizing the life of the deep ocean.

 

The refined style, always figurative, transcribes the modeling of the bodies with accuracy and balance. It reveals the power and the curve of large mammals such as seals and whales, favoring a flicker of the eyelash, fin or tail.

 

“The most complicated is to find the movement. If you catch it, it will take you to the end, ”says this artist who likes to stylize shapes to testify to the beauty of a wild world, most often on the verge of extinction. The intensity of the expression ends up taking precedence over realism.

 

What is rare is that Jean LEMONNIER does not count on details, but on an overall impression, evocative of an animal species, with a spark of life which makes this sculpture full of humanity. All the more rare as the feelings of animals are often unknown to humans. Jean LEMONNIER proves the opposite.