Toulouse: at the Musée des Abattoirs, the works of Agathe Pitié dialogue with the Lady with the unicorn
Agathe Pitié is one of six contemporary artists whose works have been selected by the Musée des Abattoirs to interact with the six medieval hangings of the Lady and the Unicorn, exhibited in Toulouse, until January 16. For this artist born in the Tarn and who lives in Toulouse, “it’s a great honor”.
She is not the style to be put forward in the middle of her works, in the basement of the Musée des Abattoirs. On the contrary, Agathe Pitié is all in discretion, modesty not to say shyness as much as her abundant drawings are all in subtlety, details and derision. This is its paw on which its notoriety was built. Agathe Pitié is one of six contemporary artists whose works have been selected by the Musée des Abattoirs to interact with the six medieval hangings of the Lady and the Unicorn, exhibited in Toulouse, until January 16. “It’s a great honor,” she announces.
From the outset, with “Le Grand Sabbat”, Agathe Pitié delves into “the history of witchcraft through cultures, eras and artistic hierarchies”. On this “ink, watercolor and gold leaf”, we cross Egyptian myths as from ancient Greece with the magician Circe and her niece Medea. There are also the witches of Salem. As for televisual references: one finds as well “My beloved Witch” as those of the series “Charmed”, the Monty Python, .. Without forgetting, the Sabbat of Goya… Agathe Pitié succeeds in the feat, in a rectangle (80 cm by 2 m), to “fit” a clever mix of 60 action scenes that are at once dramatic, grotesque and funny. The realization of the “Great Sabbath” required “4 months of work”. For composer her drawings teeming with people, Agathe Pitié starts “with the figure that pleases her the most and then everything comes together in an organic way”.
In the same style, we find “The Seat”, inspired by the covid. “We see a retirement home and a hospital represented in the form of castles in which caregivers dressed in blue fight against the coronavirus”, explains Agathe Pitié, who could not help but illustrate the divinities of care. Continuing on, we discover the paintings that the artist produced for the Occitanie Medici Prize during his stay in Rome, in 2019. Including “The Ruminal fig tree”, with “her breasts figs in reference to the goddess of the feeding with milk. We can also admire the drawings made for the role-playing game Pendragon on Arthurian myths and legends.
Born in Castres, she has lived in Toulouse for 6 years
A low voice, long black undercut hair tied in a tail, black eyes that sparkle, Agathe Pitié, 35, has lived and worked in Toulouse since 2016. Born in Castres in 1986, this daughter of marble workers has always sketched, without being doubting that one day she would make it her job. “At school, I was bothered like a dead rat. I drew in the margins of the notebooks. The day, when she realizes that she can spend 8 hours in a row, a pencil (in her left hand!), Without getting bored, Agathe Pitié decides to embrace her passion. After the Beaux-Arts in Castres, she joined those of Paris where she received congratulations from the jury. “They were very difficult studies but they allowed me to find my own style,” she admits.
This model is modeled after Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel is delighted, at 35, to be able to make a living from his art, “even if I work a lot”. Thanks to her meteoric progression in the field, with exhibitions in Vienna, works in galleries in Madrid and New York, Agathe Pitié achieved an international career.
Through his drawings which are inspired by medieval art, the artist manages to lay down on the thick paper, the quantity of contemporary, old and playful references “to offer several levels of reading”. It is also not uncommon for her to hide friends there “because I love them,” she says. Geek and fan of hard-core techno, Agathe Pitié also produces illustrations for games, “for me, these two art forms complement each other”, she concludes.