US and Canadian reviews

‘Varied in spirit and style, every piece in this slim volume is a gem, enlightening and entertaining.’ – Joseph Schreiber, roughghosts blog

French reviews

‘An antidote to our epileptic times, Jean Frémon’s parlance makes the description of art into an art of description, rescued from today’s focus on current affairs […] I only need to read a few pages of Jean Frémon’s work to feel comforted – and, even better, to persuade me that the most revolutionary form of art is figurative.’ – Damien Aubel, Transfuge

‘Jean Frémon loves telling stories: stories about painters, stories about paintings; and he does this with finesse and style. A learned, Proustian writer, [Frémon] handles ekphrasis – the art of describing a painting – with subtle precision, in stories leading to meditations on art.’ – Le Journal des Arts

‘Jean Frémon is the ideal dinner guest: for his sparkling wit paired with a keen intelligence and sensitivity. Sprinkled with amusing or unexpected anecdotes and illuminating comparisons that span art history, each story is a picture in a rich portrait gallery. Matisse concluded tersely that “a portrait is a quarrel”. The ones which Jean Frémon provides here prove him wrong, serving us up a feast with brio.’ – La Croix

US and Canadian reviews

“Ask the light to be clement”: Portrait Tales by Jean Frémon, Joseph Schreiber, roughghosts blog, 2 August 2023