10 exhibitions to see before it’s too late

Invited in residence at the Matisse museum, Agnès Thurnauer began a correspondence with the painter of La Danse, fifty letters which serve as a guideline for the exhibition. The artist develops there a relationship between painting and writing, language and forms, specific to his work, notably through sculptures in the form of molds of letters, the Matrices/Assises, presented in front of Matisse’s large cut-out gouache, Fleurs et fruits , or even a series of Prédelles, where the text unfolds in color. “Agnès Thurnauer, we meet at your place”, Matisse museum, Nice, until February 6

Francis Chigot and Léon Jouhaud, Les Baigneuses, before 1920, glass and lead, 178 x 129.5 cm, Limoges, Museum of Fine Arts, © Laurent Lagarde / City of Limoges

When one thinks of Limoges, images of porcelain and enamels first come to mind. But this city is also that of stained glass. Produced in collaboration with the new Cité du Vitrail de Troyes (inaugurated last December 17), this exhibition pays tribute to the Limougeaud master glassmaker Francis Chigot (1879-1960) and his workshop, created in 1907. While he designed several windows for civic and religious buildings in his hometown – the Bénédictins station, the Sacré-Coeur church… – his reputation goes well beyond Limousin and even national borders. He served in the United States and Canada, where in 1929 he received an order for eleven stained glass windows for the Notre-Dame de Montréal church. The Limoges Fine Arts Museum brings together for the first time some forty original works by Francis Chigot and his collaborators (Pierre Parrot in particular), to which is added nearly a hundred models, cartoons and preparatory sketches. , from the workshop collection kept in the Departmental Archives of Haute-Vienne. Chronological, the course highlights the evolution of a great colorist, whose style first draws on the sources of Art Nouveau, before flourishing in Art Deco. “Stained glass by Francis Chigot and his workshop”, Museum of Fine Arts, Cité du Vitrail, Limoges, until February 12

Vittore Carpaccio, Saint George and the dragon, 1516, oil on toile: 180 x 226 cm (70 7/8 x 89 in.) Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Benedicti Claustra Onlus, Venice Courtesy of Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore – Benedicti Claustra non-profit organization

Venice is no longer in Venice… At least as long as the exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington devoted to Carpaccio lasts, we can paraphrase Corneille’s Sertorius. Because finally, among the forty-five paintings and thirty drawings of the brilliant artist gathered here, it is certain essential works which left the Serenissima for the edges of the Potomac. There are (on the occasion of their restoration) two canvases from the delicious Scuola degli Schiavoni, the two very low-cut young women and the severe doge Loredan borrowed from the Correr museum, Saint George and the Dragon (abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore), the emblematic Lion of Saint Mark from the Ducal Palace… Other marvelous masterpieces came from Madrid, Berlin, Los Angeles or Bergamo. Needless to say more: this assembly is a feast for the eyes and the mind, a dive into the world of this painter who recounted with mischief and tenderness the daily life of the Venetians under the cover of holy scenes organized in vast cycles. And this is the first retrospective devoted to him outside Italy. Those who no longer want to fly can be reassured: from March to June 2023, the exhibition will be the guest of the Ducal Palace in Venice. Vittore Carpaccio. Master Storyteller of the Venetian Renaissance,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, until February 12

Claes Nicolas Jacobsz Van der Heck, Sabbath scene, circa 1635 © Musée Bertrand, Châteauroux

The wizard, the witch or the magician are universal figures who cross history, from Antiquity (let us remember Circe, Medea) until our days, where they are the subject of an annual festival, with Halloween. The exhibition explores this history – often tragic, alas – and its abundant iconography, which we adore: flying witches, grimacing devils, frenzied sabbats, infernal cauldrons where dreadful potions simmer… “History (s) of witchcraft”, museum of Art, History and Archaeology, Évreux, until February 19

Marlène Mocquet, My father as Bacchus, enamelled stoneware, luster, gold and platinum, 2022. © François Séjourné

Invited to discover the Joseph-Déchelette museum in the spring of 2021, Marlène Mocquet was won over by the variety of fine arts, ceramics, archaeology, natural history and Egyptology collections. Carte blanche was given to him to reinterpret a selection of works from the museum’s reserves through the prism of his whimsical universe. On the first floor of the mansion transformed into a private apartment, the artist born in 1979 has installed twenty-five works specially produced for the exhibition. Fourteen enamelled sandstone sculptures combine the faces of members of her family with objects from the museum that she has faithfully reproduced and accompanied by plants, animals… Photographs of the sculptures then served as the basis for eleven paintings in which the artist has freely developed its abundant universe. From one of the paintings, she even extracted a detail that became the motif of a double curtain used in the scenography of the exhibition hall. Trained as a self-taught clay worker, Marlène Mocquet deepened her technique at the Cité de la Céramique de Sèvres in 2011 and 2013. On the occasion of this Carte Blanche, she integrated several digital processes into the design for the first time. of his works: 3D scanning of faces and digital printing on canvas. “Ascendance, carte blanche to Marlène Mocquet”, Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology Joseph-Déchelette, Roanne, until February 28

Corinne Mercadier, Once and no more 35, 2000-02, print from Polaroid 50 x 50 cm, Courtesy binôme gallery, Paris, © C. Mercadier

Following on from the exhibition “Le vent. That which cannot be painted”, this second part emphasizes contemporary creation. Confronted with a few paintings by Boudin, Renoir, Cross or Dufy kept in the museum’s collections, works by Bernard Moninot, Jacqueline Salmon, Bernard Plossu, Jean-Baptiste Née, Geneviève Asse, Alexandre Hollan, Josef Nadj or Sarah Moon translate into paintings , drawings, photographs and videos the effects of fog, rain, dew… “Meteorological”, MuMA – André Malraux Museum of Modern Art, Le Havre, until March 5

Jean-Claude Golvin in his studio © Ville de Nîmes

Resuscitating the ancient world, its cities and its monuments, Jean-Claude Golvin has been working on it with constancy for more than thirty years. “In front of a monument in ruins, I have an absolute, almost physical need to find the original image,” he explains. I search, grope, draw, until I find the initial pace. » A work by Romain in which the passion for architecture and archeology meets a talent for drawing. Born in 1942 in Sfax, Tunisia, Golvin discovered, from an early age, the ancient remains of North Africa. With his architectural degree in hand, he embarked on the comparative study of some 190 known Roman amphitheatres. But it was in Egypt in the 1980s that the project to restore ancient monuments crystallized, when he directed the Franco-Egyptian Center for the Study and Restoration of the Temples of Karnak in Luxor. He then became director of research at the CNRS, and never ceased to explore the world of yesterday, from prehistory to modern times, reproducing on paper and with all scientific rigor some five hundred sites. Alongside spectacular bird’s eye views, Golvin multiplies close-ups in the streets, workshops, villas and temples, as can be seen in the exhibition in Nîmes which opens the doors of his studio to us. It also presents an unpublished series of thirteen watercolor drawings documenting the construction of the city’s amphitheater. And recalls that the success of Golvin’s works goes beyond the framework of lovers of old stones, since he contributed to the video game Assassin’s Creed… “Unveiling Nemausus. Jean-Claude, an architect and archaeologists”, Roman Museum, Nîmes, until March 5

Marcelle Cahn, Untitled, 1972-1973, color serigraph printed on Arches paper, 65 × 38.5 cm. MAMC+ collections, donated by the artist in 1973. Photo: Yves Bresson / MAMC+

After the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, that of Saint-Étienne Métropole is hosting a retrospective of the work of Marcelle Cahn (1895-1981), from the first purist paintings to the geometric abstractions of the 1950s, from relief paintings to the Spatial 1960s when she summons spatial imagery. We also (re)discover the drawing-poems of this rare artist, driven all her life by the freedom of gesture. “Marcelle Cahn, in search of space”, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-Étienne Métropole (MAMC+), until March 5

N. Parasur, Ajmer & Kishangarh The façade is of the complex City Palace, Udaipur 1910 © Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur

This exhibition seals the partnership agreement between the Château de Chambord and the City Palace of Ud aipur, in Rajasthan, with the aim of developing tourism between France and India. It is presented as a photographic report illustrating the history of these two prestigious places. Remember that the City Palace also dates from the 16th century and is considered, both in terms of its proportions and its architectural richness, as the most important royal palace in Rajasthan. “Castle lives”, castle, Chambord, until March 5

Totoro © Arnaud Rafaelian

The museum of Montbéliard, birthplace of the famous naturalist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), focuses on fantastic creatures from ancestral myths but whose metamorphoses have invaded cinema and comics. This rich evocation of a fictional universe addressing the themes of comparative anatomy and the evolution of species will then be hosted by the museums of the cities of Nantes, Auxerre and Montbard. “Comparative anatomy of imaginary species”, museum of the Castle of the Dukes of Württemberg, Montbéliard, until March 12