As a founding member of the Canadian non-figurative painting movement Les Plasticiens, Jean-Paul Jérôme is known for his command of two-dimensionality, achieving harmony between shape and colour.
Born in Montreal in 1928, Jérôme pursued fine arts at home. He attended Montreal School of Fine Arts (Académie des Beaux-Arts de Montréal) between 1945 and 1952, studying under Stanley Cosgrove. Jérôme was first dedicated to landscape painting, however, by 1953, he shifted towards abstraction. In 1955, alongside three artistic colleagues - Jauran (Rodolphe de Repemtigny), Louis Belzile, and Fernand Toupin, – Jerome founded the Plasticien Movement. The group published their manifesto soon after, encouraging young Québecois artists to return to a more structured and controlled style of painting. Inspired by Cézanne and Mondrian and acknowledging the inheritance of the earlier Automatistes, the Manifeste des plasticens advocated for the abstracted properties of painting: two-dimensionality, colour, contrast, and hard lines.
Jérôme lived in Paris between 1956 and 1958, where he became well acquainted with renowned artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Victor Vasarely, Émile Gilioli, and Jean Dewasne. In 1958, he taught at the Montreal School of Fines Arts, though by 1973, he became wholly dedicated to his craft in his studio on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.
His work has been exhibited and collected across Canada, at institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, Musee d’art contemporain de Montréal, and the Canadian Fine Arts Gallery. He was honoured in 1978 with membership to the Royal Canadian Arts Academy. Jérôme’s dedication to – and passion for – experimentation with form has contributed to a Canadian legacy of geometric abstraction.