François Jonquet

François Jonquet (born ), is a French Berlin-based writer and art critic. He is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). His specialism as a writer is to alternate novels and biographies.

As an art critic, François Jonquet collaborates with the magazine Artforum. Since 2005, he has contributed to the bilingual journal (French, English) art press founded by the art critic and writer Catherine Millet.

He is the author of the illustrated work of reference about the British art duo, Gilbert & George, Intimate Conversations with François Jonquet, Phaidon 2005. It comprises a distillation of interviews.

In 2000, he reconnected with an acquaintance from his youth. During his years nightclubbing, François Jonquet had hung out with Jenny Bel'Air, the star of the French underground of the seventies and eighties. A mixed-race transvestite, Jenny had been the physiognomist for Fabrice Emaer's legendary nightclub, Le Palace. A biography was published a year later, (Jenny Bel'Air, une créature, Éditions Pauvert, 2001).

Et me voici vivant (Sabine Wespieser Éditeur, 2006), is an account of his descent into madness.

He met with Daniel Emilfork in 2007. François Jonquet wrote an account of Emilfork's final years. Because of his facial features, Emilfork was often cast as antagonistic characters in films, including The City of Lost Children (Daniel, Sabine Wespieser Éditeur, 2008).

His coming-of-age novel, Les Vrais Paradis, (Sabine Wespieser Éditeur, 2014), is set in the Parisian nightclub, Le Palace, during the years 1979–84.

A personal portrait of Valérie Lang – the actress, political activist and daughter of Jack Lang, former Minister of Culture of President François Mitterrand – was published in 2018. (Je veux brûler tout mon temps, Seuil). She died suddenly at the age of forty-seven.

Books Novels Et me voici vivant, Sabine Wespieser, 2006 Les Vrais Paradis, Sabine Wespieser, 2014 De plomb et d’or, Sabine Wespieser, 2024

Biographies Jenny Bel'Air, une créature, Éditions Pauvert, 2001 (paperback: Éditions Points, 2021 ) Daniel, Sabine Wespieser Éditeur, 2008 Je veux brûler tout mon temps, Seuil, 2018

Art books Hiquily, Cercle d'art, 1992 Gilbert & George, intimate conversations with François Jonquet, Phaidon, 2005

Publications in collective works (a selection) Claude Lévêque: Le Grand Soir, Venise 2009, Flammarion, 2009, bilingual (French/English) Les grands entretiens d'artpress. La Photographie 4. L'image construite, art press, 2016 Dancing with Myself, exhibition Catalogue Pinault Collection, Marsilio, 2018 Gilbert & George, Interview in November 2017 by François Jonquet, Pinault Collection Magazine, issue 10, 2018

Portraits of artists and interviews online https://independent.academia.edu/Fran%C3%A7oisJonquet

TV Les Années Palace , by François Jonquet, directed by Chantal Lasbats (2005, France 5, 1h20). The film can be viewed on Dailymotion (French version)

Notes and references