Adrien de Menasce was born into a culturally prominent Jewish family in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1925. Largely self-taught, he briefly studied under Cubist painter André Lhote in Paris in 1947. After living and exhibiting in Zurich in the late 1950s, following the Suez Crisis, he settled permanently in London in 1960, where his expressive abstract style gradually shifted towards figurative painting.
Artist Adrien de Menasce was born on 1 August 1925 in Alexandria, Egypt and was brought up in an upper-class Jewish family, rich in cultural influences. His family had strong intellectual and artistic connections and were acquainted with literary figures such as the poet Constantine Cavafy and writer Lawrence Durrell. De Menasce's first engagement with painting was in Alexandria, where he began producing still lifes and portraits. He spent time in Paris in 1947, briefly studying under André Lhote, and with two of Lhote’s pupils in Alexandria. His true education, however, came from the countless hours he spent in museums. In the mid-1950s he relocated to Paris, immersing himself in the city’s avant-garde scene. Influenced by the work of Wols and Henri Michaux, he abandoned figurative painting and developed a unique abstract style, which he called 'Écritures' ('Writings'), drawn from an internal, almost automatic process, rather than external models (artist’s website).
The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked a turning point in Menasce’s life, forcing him to confront both personal and artistic uncertainties. His family’s departure from Egypt and the loss of their substantial holdings prompted him to renounce his Egyptian nationality, leaving him stateless. By then, he had moved from Paris to Switzerland, where he underwent Jungian analysis with Jolande Jacobi, an experience that deepened his engagement with the subconscious in his work. His growing frustration and sense of displacement manifested in a series of works he titled Blessures (Wounds). These pieces consisted of thick blocks of watercolour paper that he tore and slashed before painting over the surfaces in intense reds, pinks, oranges, and blacks.
In 1958–59, Menasce exhibited at the Kunstraum Walcheturm Gallery in Zurich, an event that took place thanks to Sir Herbert Read, the prominent British poet and art critic, who had become an early supporter of Menasce’s work. Read's influential backing was crucial in securing this exhibition, which held great significance for the artist. Reflecting on this in a letter to Read, Menasce wrote: ‘It is very strange and meaningful to me that you should be at the origin of my first show in Europe. I think back and remember when I started painting in Alexandria and reading your books – how they have accompanied me on my way’ (Herbert Read collection). Following his Kunstraum Walcheturm exhibition, Read introduced Menasce to Swiss art dealer Charles Lienhard, leading to a significant exhibition at Galerie Lienhard in Zurich in 1960. Through this gallery, he was also introduced to British painters such as Ben Nicholson and William Scott. This connection, along with his mother’s relocation to London, following the Suez Crisis, encouraged him to move to England.
In 1960 he settled in London, where he formed a lifelong partnership with the English writer Samuel Lock. Establishing himself in a Chelsea studio, he entered a new phase of artistic exploration. His abstract approach gradually shifted towards the representation of fragmented human figures, a transition he described as a 'voyage towards the flesh' ('vers la chair'). By the mid-1960s, Menasce’s work became more expressionistic, marked by emotionally charged paintings. His artistic trajectory culminated in The Hours of the Sun (1965), a large-scale painting that embodied his synthesis of abstract and figurative elements. During this time, he also developed a close friendship with the British painter Wilfred Avery, Lock's twin brother. Avery and Menasce significantly influenced each other's mature styles, both contributing uniquely personal visions to postwar British art and queer visual culture. Their works explored themes of eroticism and figuration, often juxtaposing the body with elements of abstraction and landscape, their contributions notable alongside those by artists such as Keith Vaughan, Francis Bacon, and David Hockney (Rosberys). From the late 1960s into the 1970s, Menasce’s style evolved towards a more structured and classical mode, often incorporating symbolic elements, such as hats and drapery, exemplified by The Long Voyage (1967–72).
Although his work was exhibited in a group exhibition at Fischer Fine Art in London (1972), Menasce remained somewhat on the margins of the British art world. His slow, meticulous working process, and reluctance to engage with commercial pressures, meant that his recognition came primarily from a dedicated group of collectors. Adrien De Menasce died in London, Engand in 1995. In 1996, a retrospective exhibition at The Mayor Gallery in London sought to bring wider attention to his work. Critic John McEwen wrote that Menasce’s paintings were ‘classical works, in that they impose order on chaos; unlike so much contemporary art, which goes with the instinctual flow, throwing history to the winds’. Andrew Lambirth, meanwhile, stated that ‘strikingly original though it is, Menasce’s work is little known. But its quality proclaims that here is an artist who should certainly be represented in the Tate’ (Artist’s website). De Menasce’s work is not currently represented in UK public collections.