Basic Info
Name: Jacques Palumbo
Country of Origin: DZ
Description
“Jacques Palumbo was born in Algeria and completed a BA in philosophy (1959) before studying for a year at the École d’architecture et des beaux-arts in Algiers. In 1960, he left for Paris to study art (history and academic drawing), attending the Institut d’arts et archéologie de Paris and receiving a graduate degree in drawing and visual arts (Diplôme supérieur de dessin et d’arts plastiques, 1964). In 1965, the same year that he earned a certificate in high school teaching (Certificat d’aptitude pédagogique à l’enseignement secondaire), he immigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal to begin his career as a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Palumbo’s works have been presented in many exhibitions both in Canada and abroad, including the 1992 Symposium de sculpture de Trois-Rivières, and can presently be found in private and public collections in Canada and Europe. In the early 1970s, he used mathematics as the foundation of his colourful, geometric pieces, later turning to computers to combine art with science. He has been devoted to writing for several years now, publishing his first novel, Un Iguane en hiver (“an iguana in winter”) in 2006, followed by his second, Don Pascale (L’Harmattan, Paris, col. Amarante), in 2007.”
– Historical Dictionary of Quebec Sculpture, ESPACEARTACTUEL
“Jacques Palumbo comes from a family of Italian immigrants of Neapolitan origin, illiterate, but musicians. His great-grandfather, Pasquale Palumbo, who left Resine, set up as a barber in Philippeville in 1887. He brought with him his wife Teresa, née Madonna, and five children. The eldest, Giacomo marries Adelaide Punzo, a Neapolitan from the Santa Lucia district of Naples with whom he has seven children. Raymond, the last, born in 1915 married Conception, a young Italian born in Baranno d’Ischia in the province of Naples. Two children will be born from this union: Thérèse born in 1937 and Jacques.
The young Jacques Palumbo followed his primary education at the Ferdinand Buisson school, then his secondary studies at the Dominique Luciani high school in Philippeville. Very early on, he showed a gift for drawing and painting. After brilliant studies, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1959 with honors. He then enrolled in the School of Architecture and Fine Arts of Algiers, painting section. In 1960, he left for Paris to complete his artistic studies. He took courses in art history, artistic anatomy, architectural perspective, decoration, sciences and techniques of drawing and academic drawing, with a view to becoming a professor. He enrolled at the Institute of Art and Archeology in Paris in 1963 and obtained a DDAP (Higher Diploma in Drawing and Plastic Arts) in 1964. In 1965, he passed the CAPES (Certificate of pedagogical aptitude for secondary education) of drawing.
He taught during his studies, as an assistant drawing master at the Rambouillet high school, then as a trainee teacher in Clermont-Ferrand. Not very inclined to teach, he then refused a position as a drawing teacher in Longwy.
He went into exile in Canada in July 1965. Based in Montreal, he married Suzanne Rol with whom he had two children: Sophie, born April 6, 1970, and Frédéric born May 29, 1976. He began a career as a artist and participates in various thematic exhibitions. From the beginning of the 1970s, he used the CDC 6400 computer from the Center de calcul de l’Université de Montréal to create his visual works. All of his work quickly took an international turn. Jacques Palumbo participates in several thematic exhibitions of computer art, in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. From the figurative (1958-1968), to the organic (1968-1972), from the generative (1972-1987) to the cosmogonies (1987-2004), his works are now part of several collections: Canada Council for the Arts and Musée des Fine Arts of Canada in Ottawa; Museum of Fine Arts and Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal; collections of the National Library of Quebec; as well as various museums in the province of Quebec; from coast to coast of Canada. Jacques Palumbo is listed in the Who’s Who in International Art and American Art.
His literary work testifies to the exile caused by the Algerian war which will lead to the irremediable exodus of the Pieds-Noirs throughout the world. He published his first novel in 2006: Un Iguane en hiver. His second novel Don Pasquale was published in 2013 by Éditions L’Harmattan in Paris in the Amarante collection. In 2017, a third novel entitled A few words of love was published by L’Harmattan in the Literature collection. In preparation: Lucien the Algerian, a fictionalized autobiography.”
– Wikipedia
