Artist Jean-Jacques Duval poses at the exhibit opening at Keene Arts with Lisa Lewis and Dr. John Ettling, recently retired president of SUNY Plattsburgh. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

While not a household name, the Adirondacks have long been home to pioneering glass artist and painter, French-born American Jean-Jacques Duval, 91, who has a one-man exhibit of his work, titled “If Not Now, When,” at Keene Arts in Keene. The exhibition is organized in association with Gallery Beaux-Arts Des Ameriques Montreal.

Malcomb “Mal” MacDonald, co-owner of Keene Arts, learned about Duval through an article in Adirondack Life magazine, called him up, and they had lunch. Duval introduced MacDonald to his gallery in Montreal, which led to the exhibition, a show delayed a year because of COVID-19.

“The director, Jacquie, and I felt it would be fun to have an exhibition that will share Duval’s art with his community,” said MacDonald. “It was effortless; the whole thing just seemed to fall into place. He’s such a charming guy, and his work’s fantastic, so it’s nice to have him, especially as he hasn’t shown much in the States over the past 15 years and because he is such a treasure. He was one of the guys, one of the artists with hung out at the Cedar Tavern with artists like de Kooning, who was a close friend.”

Duval is a gifted artist by any measure. In the area of glass, he may well have been the first to create abstract-designed stained glass for ecclesiastic settings in the United States. Further, Duval developed the field of three-dimensional fused-faceted glass, or dalle de verre, which is fused glass created with a hammer and anvil rather than cut. Examples of Duval’s fused-faceted glass are on display at the gallery along with many recent paintings.

Duval has lived in Saranac, AuSable Forks and now in the Willsboro home of the late artist Patricia Reynolds. Indeed, he has taken over her light-filled studio with its sweeping views of Lake Champlain. While their painting styles are different, they shared a passion for light.

People attend the exhibit opening at Keene Arts. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Duval was born in 1930 in Strasbourg, France, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. Following his father’s death when Duval was just 6, his mother moved them to Mutzig, a small village in the most northeastern corner of France. Fortunately, as it turned out, she never married his father, as, during the German occupation, the Gestapo tore their home apart looking for papers that would establish his Jewish paternity.

Following the war, Duval’s relatives encouraged his talent. When 14, an uncle introduced him to an artist who painted glass, which stimulated a lifelong passion for working with glass. Duval studied at the cole suprieure des arts dcoratifs de Strasbourg (Strasbourg art school) and, at the same time, took an apprenticeship in stained glass. At age 18, Duval was drafted into the French Army, where he served for 15 months. Not long after his service, Duval was offered the opportunity to become a designer in the United States for the Muller Glass Studio, starting work on a project in Florida. He took up the offer, and few years later left them for a similar position with the Daprato Glass Studio in New York.

Once again, Duval was drafted, this time for two years with the U.S. Army. As soon as his service was over, he rejoined Daprato and began taking night classes at the Arts Students League in the city. During this period, Duval met Elga Liverman, a writer well-acquainted with many of the leading artists of the time, such as Adolph Gottlieb, a pioneer in abstract art, the painter Willem de Kooning, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and others who hung out at the Cedar Tavern. They all became close friends of the young, soon-to-be-married couple. In 1957, Duval established his studio and soon affiliated with the Boeti Gallery on Madison Avenue.

Enrolling their son at North Country School in Lake Placid first brought them to the Adirondacks, a region where Duval quickly discovered he could ply another passion, his love for fishing. That love brought Duval to the region many times, resulting in their purchasing a home in Saranac in 1990 along the Saranac River. Not long after, he met the artist Patricia Reynolds with whom he became close friends.

“We were in Saranac for quite a while, and then I got a place in Keeseville, where I had a nice studio,” said Duval. “I worked there, and then I came here to help Patricia’s son with the taxes. I like living in the Adirondacks because you don’t have all the restrictions and cost of being in New York.”

Duval has been with Gallery Beaux-Arts des Ameriques Montreal since they opened in 2007.

“I was aware of him because I taught about Canadian art and Canadian studies at SUNY Plattsburgh,” said gallery owner Jacqueline Hbert Stoneberger. “I asked him if he would show with us, and he said yes.”

Stoneberger said that as Duval was hanging out with other abstract artists and doing abstract paintings himself, it was only natural that he incorporated such designs in his stained glass. She said Duval’s incorporating abstract designs for houses of worship all started with a small convent on Long Island.

“It just wasn’t done,” said Stoneberger. “Traditionally, stained glass had to be didactic because its use in churches was established when people couldn’t read or write. But soon, after this first commission, he became known and sought after for that kind of work. Back then, he also pioneered molded glass, which is thick and can be faceted.”

Duval completed over 500 commissions in France, Germany, Israel, Japan, the West Indies and the U.S. during his career. In the North Country, people can find examples of Duval’s stained glass at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and SUNY Plattsburgh library’s Holocaust Memorial Gallery, where he created “Kristallnacht.” This piece symbolizes the shattered windows of Jewish homes and businesses by Nazis in Nov. 9-10, 1938. In 2005, then 75, the Stained Glass Association of America honored Duval with a Lifetime Achievement Award. SUNY Plattsburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2017.

“I think his work’s fantastic,” said Keene sculptor Matt Horner at the opening. “It’s amazing. It’s impressive. It’s powerful work.”

Duvals’ exhibit at Keene Arts runs until Aug. 29.