Félix Fénéon. The distant arts
du 28 mai 2019 au 29 septembre 2019
Félix FénéonAnarchist, art critic, publisher, gallery director, passionate collector... Portrait in two chapters of Félix Fénéon, extraordinary personality and talent discoverer, at the Orsay and Orangerie museums and at the Quai Branly museum - Jacques Chirac.
The Orsay and Orangerie museums, the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pay tribute for the first time to Félix Fénéon (1861-1944), a major player in the artistic world of the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century. Anarchist, magazine director, art dealer, prodigious collector, Fénéon defended an open vision of creation at the time of art's shift towards modernity and worked for the recognition of non-Western arts.
Author in 1920 of the vibrant plea “Will they be admitted to the Louvre? », he questions, in an article which will become one of the founding texts of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, the status of “distant arts”, seventy years before Jacques Kerchache's manifesto. A commitment that goes hand in hand with the development of an extraordinary personal collection which includes, alongside paintings by his friends Seurat, Vuillard, Toulouse-Lautrec, Braque, Matisse and Modigliani, one of the most important collections of art from Africa and Oceania of the time – including the Fang Mabea statue. Here is a reference collection, whose global influence and influence on the artistic avant-garde of the 1930s are no longer in doubt.
The second part of the exhibition will be entitled “Félix Fénéon (1861-1944). The New Times, from Seurat to Matisse” and will be presented at the Musée de l’Orangerie from October 16, 2019 to January 27, 2020. It will show the different facets of this singular character, with a Quaker physique and deadpan humor, who knew how to reconcile a career as a model civil servant, artistic commitment and anarchist convictions.
Exhibition organized by the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, Orsay and Orangerie museums, Paris and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Exhibition catalog
Art critic, collector, anarchist, but also publisher and gallery director, Félix Fénéon (1861-1944) never stopped defending a decompartmentalized vision of creation at the time of the shift of art towards modernity. Unconditional support of neo-impressionism, discoverer of Seurat, artistic director of the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, defending fauvism, futurism and Matisse, he was also one of the first collectors of African and Oceanian art. His investigation Will they be admitted to the Louvre? which questions the status of sculptures and primitive art objects is a real plea for “distant arts”. No exhibition had yet paid homage to Félix Fénéon who cultivated a taste for discretion. This work, through extracts from his writings and a selection of major works that he collected and defended, testifies to his commitment and shows the relevance of the eye and choices of this singular character.
Description
Collective exhibition catalog - 2019 18 × 25.4 cm - 320 p. - French - €39.90
Co-edition of the Orsay and Orangerie museums, Quai Branly museum – Jacques Chirac, RMN-GP editions
Présentation de l'exposition - vidéo
Félix Fénéon. Les arts lointains - Musée du Quai Branly, 2020 - Philippe Pelletier - vidéo