In Lyon, Éric Poitevin awakens the colors of the museum
Confronting the museum for an artist who is still alive is a consecration, a tribute or a challenge. It is no offense to the photographer Éric Poitevin to put him in this last category, both his words and his practice are conceived in a balance between reflection and vivacity.
away from boredom
his founding work Since the veterans, validating his graduation course in 1984 until today when he invests the walls steeped in history of the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, Éric Poitevin takes his time, seeks, avoid the pitfalls, wipe the slate clean… And start creating again, always being careful not to settle in the cozy comfort of the established artist: ” I would get bored “, he admits mischievous. He thus jumps without denying himself from the portrait to the still life, passing from the nude to the animal and even to the landscape. So many genres that inhabit the museum space.
But there is no question of boredom, and, if the museum is a calm place, conducive to contemplation, it must be admitted, Éric Poitevin took advantage of the slow time of the Covid epidemic to reflect on the its installation better and avoid the pitfall of an agreed approach.
Back to the past
This is also looking very good: from the first room, while two modest images of a couple of photographers staged in the exercise of their profession transport us to the XIXe century (that of the invention of photography), the artist chose to lift the veil of traditional aiming to put it, as if abandoned on the corner of the base, in place of the model. The pictures frame a single sculpture of a mourner from the XVe century, of discreet size, the solemnity of mourning.
The words then mingle for our greatest pleasure between the drape of the sculpture and the carelessly placed folds of the veil, a tool that makes the image visible on the frosted glass of the camera. The tone is set and a high-level dialogue, light, radical and abundant, takes place without preconceptions between the artist and the museum. No question of being satisfied with it because Poitevin, who likes to cover his tracks, decides to play a new throw of the dice in each space.
→ PORTRAIT. Éric Poitevin, photographer without shadows
Further on comes another exchange when he strives to reproduce, with regard to the standing mummified Saint Francis of Zurbaran, versions under or overexposed. He uses the photographic point of view on art and its history, where the reproduction ends up capturing nothing more than the interpretation of the work. Failed or successful, little imported, it remains an image.
A surprise in every room
This elusive charm of art, he still captures it as a photographer on a white background the edges of certain canvases taken from the museum’s reserves: this usually invisible part, covered with a frame which gives so little to see and yet is an integral part of the painting. The rest, what is called the subject, the noble part, is here invisible and inaccessible. A beautiful tribute in a minimal format.
Faced with Lucas Cranach and his portrait of a noble Saxon lady, he will choose to arrange several nudes in small formats all around, referring to Venus and Cupid, thief of honey, a theme repeatedly taken up by Cranach. The artist has fun: “She’s a bit like the queen bee wrapped in a swarm of little nudes. » There again, he invites you to travel by detours, with a curious soul and a light step in the meanders of the history of painting.
Éric Poitevin also summons old works for the occasion, bringing with portraits, plants, landscapes and animals a little of his history and his own disorder in the tidy enclosure of the Lyon museum, Thus, his large deer defended vigorously his century in front of the imposing large table with game and vegetables by Frans Snyders.
No obligatory route to discover this formidable exhibition, it is there also its freedom, materialized in this long narrow corridor where is aligned a frieze of vanities made up of skulls, eggshells, overripe fruits and balloons, which one can borrow at the beginning or at the end of the visit, according to the desire.
Each room is a surprise, a discovery in itself, a concentrate of art where the very much alive photographer plays the game and defies the motionless time of the museum. : “It is good for my images and it is good for the paintings, the added value of this exhibition, it is there. » Rest assured, it does us good too.
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The Robelin collection is exhibited at the MAC
To prolong the pleasure of discovering other works by Éric Poitevin, you can also go to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Lyon, which houses the collection of the Robelin family: “A family history, collection(s) Robelin”. A pleasure shared by Anne-Marie and Marc Robelin, who like to quote Robert Filliou: “Art is what makes life more interesting than art. »
The 12 rooms reveal real treasures. From Fluxus to Annette Messager via Bernard Frize to a formidable ensemble by the German artist Thomas Schütte, the collection combines richness and coherence in a perfect balance.
Until July 10, 2022. Info. : mac-lyon.com