(b Paris, 16 May 1898; d Chatenay-Malabry, Seine-et-Oise, 21 July 1964). French painter, sculptor, and printmaker. He is best known for the paintings in his Hostages series, inspired by his horror at the brutality and suffering of the Second World War. These strange paintings feature layer upon layer of heavy paint creating a central image that is abstract but suggests a decaying human head. The pale powdery colours evoke death, but the delicacy of the handling gives them a mysterious ambivalence. They were first exhibited at the Galerie René Drouin in Paris in 1945 and were much acclaimed. They have been seen as forerunners of Art Informel, and with the post-war vogue for this kind of expressive abstraction Fautrier gained a reputation as one of the leading painters of the École de Paris.