One of the foremost representatives of the Art Informel movement in Post-War Paris, Jean Fautrier is most known for his series of the "Têtes d'ôtage" (the Hostages) in 1945, demonstrating the dehumanizing violence of the German Occupation in Paris.

Matter and form are Jean Fautrier's foremost preccupation, the painter building up thick layers of impasto paint to create an uncertain, anonymous figure. In 1956, the painter returns to painting and to themes that are dear to him, after a period of self-exploration : human figures, objects and still lives. His work attracts the attention of the United States during this period : in 1957, he will exhibit with Sidney Janis, gallery that presented Jackson Pollock during the time.