Ma vie = tableaux!

Jean Planque (1910–1998) came from the modest background of a farming family in the Swiss canton of Vaud. After finishing school in Lausanne, he took a commercial job in Basel, where he began painting in 1929, inspired by the art of Paul Klee. His acquaintance with the painter René Auberjonois and the renowned Geneva-based publisher and gallery owner Albert Skira deepened his interest in art. In 1945, the Zurich art dealer Gottfried Tanner recognised Planque’s assured sense of art and entrusted him with scouting for and purchasing artworks in Paris, which Planque had made his main place of residence in 1948. Having made a modest fortune from his earlier work as a salesman for animal feed, Planque also began to build his own art collection.

In 1954, Planque met the legendary Swiss art dealer Ernst Beyeler. A close collaboration between the two soon began, with Planque virtually becoming Beyeler’s “eyes” on the Paris art market. This lasted until Planque’s return to his native Switzerland in 1972 due to deteriorating health. He devoted his final years to his own painting, his art collection, and recording the story of his extraordinary life.

Ma vie = tableaux! is the first publication of Jean Planque’s journals. Planque’s spontaneous, moving, and at times subjective notes convey vivid impressions of his encounters with artists such as René Auberjonois, Sonia Delaunay, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Antoni Tàpies, and Mark Tobey. His memoirs also offers fascinating insights into his collaboration with Ernst Beyeler and the Paris art scene and art market of the 1950s and 1960s.

Text in French.