Jean-Pierre Junius was born in Dudelange in 1925. After graduating from the Athénée de Luxembourg secondary school, he trained to become a schoolteacher, graduating in 1945. Although he had found his calling, the draw of art led him to move to Paris in 1946 to study painting. Once back in Schifflange, he balanced his two passions as an educator and painter rather effortlessly.
With a career spanning over half a century, Junius had the time to evolve and embrace changes in the art world. Initially noticed for his personal figurative elegance in pieces like Gare de Lyon (1954) and Portrait de jeune fille (1956, the year when he was one of the Salon des indépendants de Paris sensations), Junius nonetheless managed to deviate from conventional representation and give his works new impetus, positioning himself as one of Luxembourg’s pioneering contemporary artists. The fact that he was the recipient of the Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe (art prize of the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg [Artists’ Circle of Luxembourg]) in 1958 was symbolic of his place on the local scene.
Nevertheless, he stubbornly refused to be assimilated into wider trends, currents and movements and emancipated himself of expectations or pressure to simply dedicate himself to his work. His progressive lyrical abstraction was a precious resource in this endeavour.
A colour alchemist, Junius stayed close to the landscapes, people and trajectories he witnessed throughout his life. Mines, miners, their environment, their struggle, nature and its impenetrable beauty, all of these topics found their way into his work, even if only implicitly, through ambiance and atmosphere.
Time and age never stopped him. Even at 87, his passion and ambition remained undiminished – he was always eager to learn, evolve and ultimately, create. Through art, he dealt with ageing and grief, but never abandoned his inquisitive and even optimistic eye.
In 2015, the Galerie d’art du Théâtre d’Esch in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, paid homage to this artistic resilience with an important retrospective exhibition. Curator Lucien Kayser chose 54 artworks retracing Junius’s career from the 1950s all the way to 2012.
His works have been exhibited in Luxembourg and abroad, as well as in Monte Carlo, Paris, Hamburg, Brest, São Paulo and Seville. In 1995, a large retrospective of paintings by Jean-Pierre Junius was displayed in the Tutesall at Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg city, also curated by Kayser and accompanied by a beautiful catalogue.
Junius passed away in 2020.
