Geneviève Jost

Geneviève Jost

Geneviève Jost - Biography

Geneviève Jost was born in 1944 in Compiègne, France, where her father was a forester. As a child, she developed an interest in drawing but ultimately chose to study education and worked as a social worker for a number of years. In 1965, Geneviève visited Sherbrooke, Quebec for the first time and eventually settled there in 1967.

It was following a visit to New York in 1965 where she attended an exhibition of American outsider artists that the desire to be an artist was re-awakened. Once settled in Quebec with her family she began to teach herself how to paint, calling upon her childhood memories. Instinctively she picked up the devices and technique she needed, particularly those of perspective and transparency, to convey the impression of density.

Genevieve’s first solo exhibition at Galerie L’Art Français was held in 1983, which led to string of successful solo shows in Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Brussels, New York, Connecticut, Tel Aviv and, more recently, in Lourmarin France and Berlin.

Genevieve's works evoke the tranquil animal kingdom of Edward Hicks and the dream-like forest scenes of Henry Rousseau. Her love of music is palpable, with her figures often depicted with a musical instrument in hand. A primitive, early American ambience pervades Jost's works, with an emphasis upon the interaction between shepherds and their flocks, children and brightly plumed birds, adolescents and remarkably domesticated jungle animals.

Selected Exhibitions:
2017 Geneviève Jost: Retrospective Exhibition, Musée International d'art Naîf de Magog
2017 Solo – Selected Works by the artist, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2016-2011 Groupe- Naïve World, Gina Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israël
2010 Solo- New Works, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2006 Solo- New Works, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2004: Solo- Galerie Jeannine Blais, North Hatley
2001-2003 : Concours international de la peinture primitive moderne, Morges, Suisse
2002: Solo- New Works, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
1999: Solo- New Works, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
1998: Collective- Entre deux chaises, Galerie Vente et Location du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
1998-94-92-91: Collective- Concours international d’art primitif moderne, Galerie Pro-Arte Kasper, Morges, Suisse
1997: Solo, Galerie Louise Smith, Toronto
1996: Duo avec Christian Deberdt, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
1996: Collective- Concours international, Galerie Jeannine Blais, North Hatley, Québec
1991: Solo, Galerie Louise Smith, Toronto
1990: Solo, Galerie Pro Arte Kasper, Morges, Suisse
1987: Solo- Exposition rétrospective, Délégation Générale du Québec, New York
1987: Solo, Galerie l’Art Français, Montréal
1987-86: Collective, Salon international d’art naïf, Paris

Awards:
1998: Prix Fémina du concours suisse de la peinture primitive, Galerie Pro Arte Kasper, Morges, Suisse
1990: Prix suisse de la peinture primitive, Galerie Pro Arte Kasper, Morges, Suisse
1989: Prix spécial Pro Arte Kasper du concours suisse de la peinture primitive, Galerie Kasper, Morges, Suisse

Collections:
· Musée International d'Art Naïf, Magog, Quebec
· Dupont Canada, Montréal, Quebec
· General Electric, Toronto, Ontario
· McMasters Art Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
· Montréal Trust, Montréal, Quebec
· Musée d’art naïf de la ville de Paris, France
· Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke, Quebec
· The CIT Group Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana
· Cellex-C International Inc, Toronto, Ontario
· Sélection du Reader’s Digest, Montréal, Quebec
· Via Rail, Montreal
· Bombardier, Montreal
· Banque Scotia, Montreal
· Musée de Charlevoix, Pointe au Pic
· University College of Cape Breton Art Gallery, Sydney, Nova Scotia
· Private collections in Canada, Belgium, France, United States, Italy, Israel, Holland, Germany and Switzerland

Artist Specialization: Naive & whimsical figurative painting - Both acrylic and oil allow Jost to apply colour like a wash; it is through the application of many such layers that a kind of luminosity emerges, which facilitates the transformation from flatness to a depth outside the visual planes. By carefully observing a face, a brick, an element of the surface, or even the sky in its entirety, we can perceive the lightness and delicacy of tone which is so highly refined in this artist. Her desire for luminosity comes from the numerous rooms she painted throughout the years. She borrows subjects for her paintings from the simplicity of everyday life and she is fond of interrupting time in a gesture, an attitude or an atmosphere, similar to photography.