Is this him?
Pierre Tal-Coat (1905-1985) painter
Tal-Coat's birth name was Pierre Louis Jacob. He was born in Brittany, a fisherman's son, and came to Paris in 1924. He chose the surname Tal-Coat (Breton for "Wood Face") to avoid being confused with the artist and poet Max Jacob. Tal-Coat was one of the most imprtant figures in the post-war School of Paris. One of the founders in the mid-forties of Tachisme, a lyrical abstract movement that was the French version of Abstract Expressionism, his paintings were acclaimed and admired by fellow artists such as Andre Masson. He also wrote on painting. His etchings and lithographs encapsulate the essence of his minimalist paintings.Tal-Coat was awarded the Grand-Prix National des Arts in 1968. His works have been featured in one-person shows at the Galerie de France (1945-1946), the Berne Kunsthalle (1957), the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (1960), Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris (1963), the Maisons de la Culture du Havre and d'Amiens (1969), Galerie Benador, Geneva (1970, 1972, 1975, and 1979), Galerie l'Entracte, Lausanne (1973), the Musee de Metz (1974), the Musee Royal de Parc Veno, Tokyo (1975), Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne (1979), Galerie Ditesheim, Neufchatel (1979), and at the Chateau de Ratilly (1979), Musée d'Evreux (1983), Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris (1983), Musee des Beaux-Arts de Quimper (1985), Maison de la Culture, Bourges (1987), Musee des Beaux-Arts de Rennes (1988), and Centre National des Lettres, Paris (1988). In 1968, there was a travelling retrospective at the Galeries Benezit, d'Incelli, and Schoeller; in 1976, he was the subject of a career retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris. From 1954 on, he was primarily represented by the Galerie Maeght, Paris, and was the subject of a number of issues of the deluxe art review, Derrière le Miroir (numbers 64, 82/84, 114, 120, 131, 153, and 199). Finally, we have just learned (compliments of an announcement that Gérard Titus-Carmel is having an exhibition there) that Tal-Coat has had a museum named in his honor, the Galerie Pierre Tal-Coat, Centre culurel, Hennebont.
Select Bibliography:
Danie Abadie and Christian de Manoir, Tal-Coat (Paris: Galerie Patrice Trigano, 1983); Alice Baxter et al, Tal-Coat, parcors 1945-1983 (Evreux: Musée d'Evreux, 1983); Samuel Beckett and Pierre Duthuit, "Three Dialogues: Tal-Coat, Masson, and Bram van Velde," in Transition n. 5 (Paris, 1949); André Carious and Daniel Dobbels, Hommage à Pierre Tal-Coat (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, 1985); Michel Dieuzaide, Vers La Courbure: L'Atelier de Pierre Tal-Coat Vu Par Michel Dieuzaide (Paris: Clivages, 1983); Pierre Tal-Coat, Raoul-Jean Moulin, Andre du Bouchet, Tal-Coat (Paris: Grand Palais, 1976); Pierre Tal-Coat, Vers ce qui fut est ma raison profonde de vivre (Lausanne: Françoise Simecek, 1983), Pierre Tal-Coat, Retrospective des dessins et oeuvres sur papier (Rennes: Musé des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, 1988).