Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé (above) was attracted by the chaotic, multi-layered mix of words and images plastered on the walls of Paris—the DNA of his times. A photographer captured him  harvesting a work of art in 1970—the same year he made the image (below) titled "Les Halles Pavillon", 1970 (9 x 11 inches). 

Ripping torn posters off the walls, Villeglé combined the surrealism of the found object with Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The artist specifically identified each work with the street in which it was found—beginning in 1949. His work encompasses six decades of life in Paris, from politics and commerce to film, literature and social issues. Below is a detail from "Rue Pastourelle", 1968, a nearly abstract work with exquisite color and composition, punctuated by lettering that suddenly become mysterious fragments of urban poetry.  

And finally,  the more recent masterpiece, "Rue Saint George-Saint Lazare", 1988, 49 x 78 inches.  This fall I'll be interviewing Villeglé in Paris. Stay tuned for further updates. (All art images courtesy of Modernism Gallery, San Francisco).

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