Hubert Renard La vie illustrée d'Hubert Renard, 2025
Specifications
Book, 22.5 x 16.5 cm, 160 pages
Biography by Marion Gagneure
Four-color offset printing on coated semi-mat paper 135g
Signatures are double-stitched with cotton thread
Production
Edition limited to 150 copies
Produced and published by mfc-michèle didier
©2025 Hubert Renard & mfc-michèle didier
NB: All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the author and the publisher.
Following the publication of the Catalogue Raisonné, 1969-1998 by Hubert Renard in 2021, we published La vie illustrée d'Hubert Renard in 2025.
The artist, on a self-seeking quest, leads us to meet other characters who have marked out his private life, as well as many essential players in his accomplishment.
In the prologue to the book, Marion Gagneure, Hubert Renard's biographer, tells us: "I never knew Hubert's exact age, he lied all the time, making himself younger or older according to his whim or interest. Only his family knew his exact age, I suppose." Thus speaks Alain Farfall, the faithful among the faithful, when asked about Hubert Renard's date of birth.
Marion also tells us:
"Writing the biography of an artist is a special exercise: it is not a question of analysing the work, but of telling the story of an author's life, both public and private. Giorgio Vasari established the genre in the 16th century with Le Vite, which relates the lives, works and anecdotes — some of them legendary — of the great artists of the Renaissance, from their childhood to their death. By doing so, Vasari, like all biographers, interprets a career and creates a myth.
Hubert Renard's private life remains a mystery. Existing documentation on the man is discreet and succinct. The artist's archives concentrate on the documentation of his works: there is little additional information, private or intimate, that would provide a better understanding of the artist's character and psyche. To get an idea of the man, to give him substance, you have to listen to his relatives, his friends and his witnesses of his life. This is what we have done. Until then, there was only one known portrait of him, dressed as a Mexican boy for a school party. Renard did not like to be photographed, and always refused to have any image of himself published here or there. He lied about his age and hid his face.
The research carried out for this book did not recover many portraits of the artist. This biography will be illustrated mainly with documents belonging to third people: the idea is to create a portrait of the artist by default. I.e., to create an image of Hubert Renard using the ones that have crossed his mind: his friends, his relationships, the places and events he encountered. A mental image rather than a portrait. I think he would have liked it."
7.48 x 5.51 in ( 19 x 14 cm )
11.81 x 8.66 x 1.57 in ( 30,5 x 22,3 x 4,1 cm )
14.17 x 11.81 x 2.36 in ( 36 x 30,4 x 6,8 cm )
11.81 x 9.45 in ( 30 x 24 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
11.81 x 8.66 in ( 30 x 22 cm )
11.81 x 8.66 in ( 30 x 22 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
27.56 x 19.69 in ( 70 x 50 cm )
Each 27.56 x 19.69 in
Variable dimensions
Each 55.12 x 27.56 in
1.97 x 3.94 x 3.94 in ( 5 x 10,5 x 10,5 cm )
15.35 x 11.42 x 2.36 in ( 39 x 29 x 6,5 cm )
1.18 x 7.09 x 9.45 in ( 3,5 x 18 x 24 cm )