Jacqueline Lemaitre

If, among the various pictorial techniques, watercolour has always struggled to gain recognition as an art in its own right and forge a reputation for itself, Jacqueline Lemaitre brilliantly demonstrates that it is possible to ally the exceptional talent of the great watercolourists of the past with the here and now. After experimenting with oils, she chose watercolours as her means of self-expression. Originally from Cherbourg (Normandy), she has exhibited on a regional level for almost thirty years, graduating more recently to national and international shows. Her career has earned her many awards, which is proof as to the quality and uniqueness of her creation.

Between figuration and abstraction, Jacqueline Lemaitre’s work offers us an opportunity for escapism. Very often inspired by the sea, the artist leads us on a voyage of discovery, abandoning reality and inviting us to enter a flawlessly reinvented and dreamy “palpable world”. And yet it is a world that remains possible and very tangible, because the subjects are always recognisable. In the manner of great artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, the painter offers a new, very imaginative view on life, whilst watercolour allows her (better than any other medium) to convey this poetic approach with colourful and flowing pigments. Original compositions are thereby enhanced and tend towards the desired formal abstraction. The resulting paintings portray beautiful fields of intense colours, which gradually and subtly transform into effects of transparency and light, and her balanced compositions emphasise the very present and structuring underlying drawing.

Jacqueline Lemaitre is one of those rare artists who, with originality and an irreproachable technique, succeed in conveying in their work the vital impetus and emotion that drives them. This is in order to better transcend the vision of a world governed by harmony, one that opens to door to endless possibilities.