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Latest revision as of 12:09, 30 September 2009About
Folon was born in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium. He studied architecture at the Institut Saint-Luc. Folon set up a studio in a gardener’s house in the outskirts of Paris in 1955, where he drew morning, noon and night for five years. He moved to Monaco in 1985, where he worked in a workshop-studio amongst a large group of artists. At the time known for his watercolors, his first exhibition was at the Lefebre Gallery in New York in 1969. The following year, he exhibited in Tokyo and in the Il Milione gallery in Milan. He was also a participant in the XXVth Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition. He joined with a group of fellow Belgian artists selected to take part in the XXVth São Paulo Biennale International Art Exhibition in 1973 to win the Grand Prize in Painting. During his nearly 50 year career, Folon experimented with various techniques such as etching, illustration, mosaics, silkscreen, stained glass and watercolor to demonstrate his artistic diversity. Much of his poster work was in support of humanitarian causes. By 1988, Folon had added wood sculptures to his repertoire and later added clay, plaster, bronze and marble, but never abandoned his painting. His work has been exhibited by numerous international museums including: Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1971 Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam in 1976 Institute of Contemporary Art in London in 1977 Musée Picasso d'Antibes in 1984 Museo Correr in Venice in 1986 Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires in 1987 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1990 La Pedrera in Barcelona in 1993 Bunkamura in Tokyo in 1995, Musée Olympique in Lausanne in 1996 Museo Morandi in Bologna in 1996-97 Galerie Guy Pieters in Saint-Paul de Vence 1999 Castelo de São Jorge, Lisbon 2001 Palazzo Vecchio (Grand Retrospective) and Forte Belvedere, Florence, Italy 2005 He opened the Fondation Folon in 2000, which displays examples of his work in the region he grew up in Belgium. In 2003, Folon created the designs for Puccini’s La Bohème for the Puccini Festival in Italy. He was also awarded the Legion of Honour in the Palais d’Elysée by French President Jacques Chirac. In 2004 was made a UNICEF ambassador. Folon died at the age of 71 in Monaco. Contact
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