Long ignored in France, but famous in both the USA and Japan, Jean-Michel Folon’s international career took off very quickly: his images were published in the most famous magazines, he designed over 500 posters and as many book covers, his work was shown in prestigious art galleries and museums, he made animated films — French television viewers remember his theme for the TV channel Antenne 2. He did drawings and water paintings, was a sculptor and an amateur photographer, as well as an actor who appeared alongside Marthe Keller, Miou-Miou and Marlène Jobert. He was friends with artists like César, Saul Steinberg and Roland Topor; photographers like Jacques Henri Lartigue and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and filmmakers like Federico Fellini, and Wim Wenders.

Over the last 10 years of his life, Folon devoted most of his time to sculpture and monumental paintings, setting aside the line drawings of his early years and the watercolors that made him famous. Which may explain why the public began to forget the ethereal, subtle work on paper. It is time to correct that injustice. This first volume of a series devoted to his graphic work presents his early humorous drawings – which are clearly influenced by Steinberg, and were followed by freer ones. Though lightly rendered, these poetical, metaphysical pictures are as lush and complex as oil paintings. Everything that Folon would become is already visible: the grandiose dreams, the fear and anxiety, the dazzling premonitions.