Michel Nedjar was born in 1947 near Paris. Both his
Jewish parents
emigrated to France in the early 1920’s, his father from Algeria and
his mother from Poland. His father worked as a master-tailor while his
maternal grandmother ran a second-hand clothing stall at the Paris flea
market and Nedjar understandably grew up surrounded by sewing machines
and garments. His very first dolls were made out of leftover fabrics
from his father’s workshop. At school, only his drawing classes
interested him. After leaving school in 1962, he too trained to be a
tailor and exercised his trade until he was sent off to do his
compulsory military service. In 1969, he commenced the first of his
many extensive journeys and was highly fascinated by the cloth dolls
sold in the Mexican marketplace. In 1976, back in Paris, he began
making his own dolls out of old rags, sacking and other flea market
remnants. Around the same time, he assiduously commenced drawing on
paper that he found, a passion to which he continues to tirelessly
devote himself.
Nedjar has become an internationally recognised artist and is
represented in many major collections. He is also an acknowledged
experimental filmmaker. In 1982, he co-founded the L’Aracine Art Brut
collection.
© Iconofolio & Michel Nedjar - 2006
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