Gilbert Lascault

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Gilbert Lascault (1934–2022) was a French novelist, essayist, and art critic. Born in Strasbourg, he earned the agrégation in philosophy in 1960 and began work on a thesis called “The Monster in Western Art,” which opened the way for his future writings. He discovered contemporary art after meeting artists Henri Michaux and Jean Dubuffet. An engraver and calligrapher, he taught aesthetics and the philosophy of art at Paris Nanterre and later at the Sorbonne, offering seminars of uncertainty to students and researchers in philosophy, art history, and the plastic arts. A specialist in surrealism, he published several books on the subject and wrote for many magazines, including Traverses, La Quinzaine littéraire, L’Art Vivant, Artstudio, XXe, Beaux Arts Magazine, and La Revue d’esthétique. For many years he was one of the main voices on the France Culture program Des Papous dans la tête, and he also appeared on Panorama and Les Décraqués. In 1995 he was the guest of honor of Oulipo. He participated in numerous artist’s books with many artists and wrote about the work of many painters and sculptors, such as Jean Dubuffet, Jean Tinguely, Pierre Alechinsky, and Jean Le Gac. From 4 May 2005 he served as régent of the Collège de 'Pataphysique at the Teratoscopy & Dinography chair. In 2014, the Musée Hospice Saint-Roch in Issoudun held a major retrospective titled “The Haunted Rooms of Gilbert Lascault.” He died on 19 December 2022 at the age of 88.