Alfred Antonin Juritzky (Juva)

Born into a family of the Austrian nobility, Juva completes his humanities studies at the University of Vienna in 1910. Refusing to live under Hitler’s regime, he takes refuge in France in 1938. Passionate about art, Juva collects bizarre objects. In the late 1940s, his attention is drawn by the many flints he unearths in the Paris region whose shapes remind him of animals or figures. Carving and adding touches of paint to them, he signs all these creations with his pseudonym.

The works of Juva were first shown at the Foyer de l’Art Brut in 1948. The exhibition comprised 90 works, including three that were subsequently presented at the Galerie René Drouin.