English

    Jean-Marie Cousset was born September 17, 1950, in Angouleme, France (in the department of the Charente). From the age of one until he was twenty-two, he lived near Paris, at the Chateau des Mesnuls, where his father conducted a school, created in 1945, uniquely for handicapped children. Prior to directing this facility for twenty years, his father was a professor of Latin, Greek, History and Geography. His paternal ancestors were fisherman at La Rochelle; his mother's family had manufactured umbrellas in Angouleme. His artistic talent stemmed perhaps from his maternal grandmother, a cellist and an amateur painter. He has two siblings: a brother who is a doctor in Bordeaux and a sister who is an insurance agent in Rouillac (near Angouleme).

    Jean-Marie studied architecture for three years in Paris and spent two years at the Academie Charpentier, also in Paris, to perfect these skills with the techniques of drawing and painting. He began to paint seriously during his year of compulsory military service, at the end of which time he had his first exhibition. It was at this time that he met Birmingham photographer Ed Willis Barnett, who, impressed with this young French artists talent invited him to Birmingham to take part in the 1973 Festival of Arts Salute to France. His first exhibit in Birmingham was in the Town Hall Gallery at the Birmingham University School. He returned to Birmingham for the 1989 Festival of Arts, again saluting France, where his festival sponsored exhibit was hung at Monty Stabler Galleries, her first show at the Homewood location.

      Monsieur Cousset admires and has been influenced by the works of Magritte, Jerome Bosh, Escher, Topor, Steinberg, Felicien Rops and Glen Baxter. He uses musical inspiration while drawing and painting, the compositions of Monteverdi, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Tom Waits, Monk, Bach, Paul Desmond and Keith Jarret. He says that it is not necessary to look for some obscure meaning in his paintings; he simply tells a story, using images to express the story as a dream and each viewer can arrange the story as he wishes, starting at any point or from any direction on the painting. He often uses architectural elements and animals in his works. His studio is in his home, an old stone farmhouse, that he is in the process of restoring himself.