Jack Clemente was born in Novara on 4 September 1926 and died in Milan on 16 July 1974.
After moving to Paris, from 1952 he devoted himself to painting and his first exhibition was in 1953, initially moving between lyrical and informal abstraction. In 1958 he met Carlo Cardazzo and Lucio Fontana and became interested in Spatialism. His special relationship with the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice and Il Naviglio in Milan dates from the 1960s, as he began to use “other” materials such as rope and jute.
He held frequent solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
From 1968 he collaborated with ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française) and with RAI (Italian television) and was involved in producing a series of films on key contemporary figures of painting and music.
He was Jean-Christophe Averty’s assistant in the “Emission Quatre Temps”, an afternoon programme in which the most important singers of the time such as Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, sang before sets by Capogrossi, Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, Vasarely and David Hockney. In 1970, he was involved in Adrien Maben’s film “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii”, shot in the Roman amphitheatre.
GALLERY
SELECTED SOLO EXHBITIONS
1953
Clemente, Galerie La Muette, Paris
1955
Clemente, Galerie Aktuaryus, Strasbourg, February – March
1956
Jack Clemente, Galleria Apollinaire, Milan, 18 – 29 February (catalogue text by J. Matisse).
Clemente, Galleria Apollinaire, Milan, November 1956
1957
Jack Clemente Paintings, New Vision Centre, London, March
1958
Twentyfour paintings by Clemente, Drian Gallery, London, March
1960
Clemente, Drian Gallery, London, 12 – 21 March
1962
Clemente, 364th exhibition of Naviglio, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, 27 October – 9 November
1963
Clemente, 563rd exhibition of Cavallino, Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, luglio
1964
Clemente, Galerie Henriette Le Gendre, Paris, 20 February – 14 March
1965
Clemente, Galleria l’Argentario, Trento, 16 – 30 June (text by H. Juin)
1966
Clemente, Bulletin of the 449th Exhibition of Naviglio, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, 16 – 29 April (text by H. Michaux)
1967
Clemente, Galleria Associazione Zen, Brescia, 9 – 22 February
1968
Clemente, 493rd exhibition of Naviglio, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, 8 – 22 January (text by Clemente)
1971
Clemente, Galerie Smith, Bruxelles, May – June
Clemente, Galleria Il Capricorno, Venice, 20 September – 4 October
2013
Jack Clemente, MIArt (Studio Gariboldi), Milan, April
Jack Clemente, Studio Gariboldi, Milan, 20 April – 30 June
Jack Clemente, Galleria Bergamo, Bergamo, 20 April – 30 June
2018
Jack Clemente e “Balla e il Futurismo”, organized by Nicoletta Pallini Clemente, Atelier Natsuko Toyofuku, Milan, 4 October
SELECTED COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
1955
IX Premio Lissone (Catalogue of the exhibition “IX Premio Lissone”, 1955)
Réalités Nouvelles numéro 9, Paris (cat. H.Hofer imprimeur, Paris V juin 1955)
1956
Maestri e giovani pittori d’oggi, Galleria Apollinaire, Milan, June
1957
X Premio Lissone, September (Catalogue of the exhibition “X Premio Lissone”, 1957, Lissone).
15 giovani pittori, Galleria Blu, Milan, 14 October
1958
PHASES, Galerie St-Laurent, 42, Rue Duquesnoy, Bruxelles, 5 July – 30 August
1959
Paintings from the Damiano Collection, I.C.A., London, January (curated by L. Alloway; exhibition also held in Middlesbrough, Bury e Edinburgh, September to November 1959)
Au-delà de l’informel, Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris 24 February – 14 March
1961
International exhibition of modern jewellery 1890-1961 (exhibition catalogue of International exhibition of modern jewellery 1890-1961, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane Cheapside, London, 26 October – 2 December
1962
Neuf Peintres Neufs, Galerie du Cercle, Paris, 20 November – 11 December
1966-67
Incontri, Galleria Argentario, Trento, January
Naviglio-Argentario, Galleria Argentario, Trento, December
Il gioco degli artisti, bulletin of the 461st exhibition of Naviglio, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, December 10, 1966 – January 7, 1967.
L’uomo e lo spazio, Lo Spazialismo e Humor Graphic, Palazzo Costanzi, Saletta Comunale, Circolo della Cultura e delle Arti, Trieste, 8 – 31 July(single catalogue of the three exhibitions; Clemente was present in the first of them)
4° Premio Cinisello Balsamo Mostra Nazionale di Pittura Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo
1968
Prima mostra della Galleria Navigliovenezia, 18 June (curated by R. Carrieri)
1969
Naviglioincontro 1, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, 9 – 29 January (catalogue with texts by G. Ballo, J. Fitzsimmons, F. Gentilini, M. Valsecchi)
1975
Monumentalmente Vostro, Milan Art Center, Milan, February
2019
Passione. Dodici progetti per l’arte italiana, VAF Collection, MART, Rovereto, 23 February – 8 September
