Jean Planque (1910-1998) came from the modest background of a farming family in the Swiss canton of Vaud. Encountering the work of Paul Klee in the late 1920s ignited his interest in art and he took up painting himself. Acquaintances with painters and gallery owners lead him to make Paris his main place of residence in 1948, entrusted with scouting for and purchasing artworks by a Zurich-based art dealer. 1954-72, he closely collaborated with the legendary Swiss dealer Ernst Beyeler, virtually becoming Beyeler's "eyes" on the Paris art market. Having made a modest fortune from his earlier work as a salesman for animal feed, and thanks to his close relationships with artists and dealers, Planque also built his own high-profile collection.
Collection Jean Planque is the expanded new edition of a lavish presentation of this collection that was first published in 2001 by the French publisher Éditions Hazan. Color reproductions of the artworks are supplemented with annotations by Jean Planque, describing what inspired his choices and the circumstances behind each purchase. Illuminating essays-some of them newly written for this new edition-shed light on Planque's biography and collecting history. A complete catalog of the collection rounds out the volume.