Exhibition Archive - Akim Monet Curatorial 2011-2021

Berlin (2011-2018): Homage to Auguste Rodin (Winter 2017)

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  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Archival Pigment Print on 100% cotton acid-free watercolor paper Image size: 82 x 57 cm, paper size: 100 x 70 cm Ed. 7PROVENANCESide by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH, BerlinEXHIBITEDWomen, Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH, Berlin24 January – 29 March 2014LITERATURERodin. An Engagement, photography by Akim Monet, artist’s e-catalogue, Berlin.NOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  The present work is from a series visible here
  • Auguste RODIN (1840-1917)Bronze 68,8 x 51,4 x 36,6 cmCast in 2015 by Fonderie de Coubertin, ParisInscribed A. Rodin, © by Musée Rodin and numbered, one of the eight examples numbered in Arabic numerals, dated and stamped with foundry mark PROVENANCEMusée Rodin, ParisOTHER CASTS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONSLos Angeles, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation Aix-les-Bains, Musée Faure AUTHENTICATIONA certificate of authenticity, signed by the Director of the Musée Rodin, is given to every purchaser of an original bronze by Auguste Rodin.This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l’oeuvre scultpé currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay. NOTESWe are indebted to the Musée Rodin for the following: This group, displayed for the first time in 1902 at an exhibition of Rodin's work in Prague, shows a languid Juliet clasping Romeo, who has adopted a pose similar to the ignudi of the Sistine Chapel in order to climb over the balcony. The group occupies a special place in Rodin’s post-1900 production. Subjects drawn from literature were quite unusual for him during that period; moreover, he did not hesitate to give this group a descriptive character by introducing accessory details such as the balcony balustrade. Bearing in mind that in 1900 Rodin had received an order for two replicas of Le Baiser, which were immediately executed for Warren and Jacobsen, should we discern in Roméo et Juliette a veiled reference to Paolo and Francesca, that other famous literary couple?
  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Chromogenic print mounted face-in 1/8” Plexiglas on composite board in custom artist's frame Print size:  125 x 145 cmFrame size:  145 x 165 cmEd. 2 + 1 APNOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  Please click here for more about Rodin and photography.
  • Auguste RODIN (1840-1917)Bronze 41 x 36,9 x 13,5 cmCast in 1984 by Fonderie de Coubertin, ParisInscribed ‘A. Rodin’, © by Musée Rodin and numbered Ed. 7/8, one of the eight examples in Arabic numerals, dated and stamped with foundry markPROVENANCEMusée Rodin, ParisOTHER BRONZE CASTS Tokyo, National Museum of Western ArtLos Angeles, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor FoundationAUTHENTICATIONA certificate of authenticity, signed by the Director of the Musée Rodin, is given to every purchaser of an original bronze by Auguste Rodin.This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l’oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay.NOTESWe are indebted to the Musée Rodin for the following:This relief, portraying a spirit whispering ideas into the artist's ear, has always been viewed as a symbolic representation of Rodin. The resemblance is in fact remarkable. Placed within the right-hand jamb of La Porte de l’Enfer, at the very bottom, this relief has been viewed as a kind of signature, like those left by the master-craftsmen of the Middle Ages. Lorenzo Ghiberti inserted his own self-portrait on the doors of the Baptistery in Florence, the main source of inspiration for La Porte de l’Enfer. Rodin also deeply admired Romanesque and Gothic art and, like his predecessors, was determined to use the available space as fully as possible. In this work, the figure is designed with creativity worthy of the artists of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, to fit it into the rectangular space allotted to it. Although Rodin talked about artistic technique as a form of craftsmanship, the act of creation was always a mystery to him, and this little female figure whispering inspiration into the sculptor's ear is a representation that occurs several times in his work. In 1894-1895, this composition was remodeled in the round and entitled Le Sculpteur et sa Muse.
  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Chromogenic print mounted face-in 1/8” Plexiglas on composite board in custom artist's frame Print size:  145 x 125 cmFrame size:  165 x 145 cmEd. 2 + 1 APNOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  Please click here for more about Rodin and photography.
  • Auguste RODIN (1840-1917)Bronze 42,1 x 27 x 31 cmCast in 2015 by Fonderie de Coubertin, ParisInscribed A. Rodin, © by Musée Rodin and numbered, one of the eight examples numbered in Arabic numerals, dated and stamped with foundry mark PROVENANCEMusée Rodin, ParisAUTHENTICATIONA certificate of authenticity, signed by the Director of the Musée Rodin, is given to every purchaser of an original bronze by Auguste Rodin.This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l’oeuvre scultpé currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay. NOTESWe are indebted to the Musée Rodin for the following: The subject of this bronze is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. When Vulcan sculpts the first woman, Pygmalion falls in love with the statue the god is creating and begs Aphrodite to transform it into a living woman.  Rodin explained to Paul Gsell that the starting point for this group was Le Minotaure (around 1886). Having decided at some unknown date to assemble a study of a woman and the faun from Le Minotaure, he began by removing the faun's left leg to leave enough space for the female figure. He then removed the faun's horns and altered the position of the arms. The next stage was carried out during the first execution in marble, when the faun's cloven hoof was transformed into a human foot. Finally, in the course of its second execution in marble, the body of Galatea took on the appearance of a partly completed sculpture, with the legs merely roughed out. Rodin represented himself as a creator deity via this symbolic self-portrait whose development history has, unusually, been preserved.
  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Chromogenic print mounted face-in 1/8” Plexiglas on composite board in custom artist's frame Print size:  145 x 125 cmFrame size:  165 x 145 cmEd. 2 + 1 APNOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  Please click here for more about Rodin and photography.
  • Auguste RODIN (1840-1917)Bronze 24 x 14,5 x 13,7 cmCast in 2002 by Fonte GodardInscribed A. Rodin, © by Musée Rodin and numbered 5/8, one of the eight examples numbered in Arabic numerals, dated and stamped with foundry mark PROVENANCEMusée Rodin, ParisAUTHENTICATIONA certificate of authenticity, signed by the Director of the Musée Rodin, is given to every purchaser of an original bronze by Auguste Rodin.NOTESThis small bronze, cast from a plaster original with very visible seams, probably represents the first phase of a work that was subsequently detached from the tall pedestal it had been placed on. Once removed, the figure was used on its own in many different ways, for example positioned against a plaster panel or attached to the neck of a small alabaster amphora. Combined with two other figures it became the starting point for a larger group, Jeune fille entre deux génies, or Les mauvais Génies, also exhibited in 1900. Its composition bears witness to the research Rodin had been carrying out on the geometrical structure of the human body; it perfectly illustrates the commentaries, published by Camille Mauclair in 1905, in which Rodin observes: {quote}My art arises out of architecture and geometry. A body is a building and a polyhedron.{quote}
  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Chromogenic print mounted face-in 1/8” plexiglas on composite board in custom artist's frame Print size:  70 x 60 cm, frame size:  90 x 80 cmEd. 5 + 2 APNOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  Please click here for more about Rodin and photography.
  • Camille CLAUDEL (1864-1943)Bronze with nuanced brown patinaHeight: 46 cm (18 1/8 in.)Conceived in 1895, the present bronze cast was executed ca. 1996 in an edition of 12, numbered 1/8 to 8/8 and I/IV to IV/IV, from the polychrome plaster acquired directly from Camille Claudel by her doctor Alexandru Slatineau (1873-1939) between 1898 and 1902.Signed and titled “La Valse / C. Claudel” on the front of the base, numbered “E.A. IV/IV” and with foundry mark “Fonderie de la Plaine”.PROVENANCEThe artist’s familyPrivate Collection, France (acquired from the above)AUTHENTICATIONThis work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity numbered 00220 and dated October 24, 2001, issued and signed by Mme Reine-Marie Paris, the great-niece of the artist.LITERATUREReine-Marie Paris, Camille Claudel re-trouvée, Catalogue Raisonné, Les Éditions Aittouarès, Paris 2001, nr. 28-4, p. 292 (the original plaster ill.), this cast listed.NOTESWe are indebted to Christie’s for the following, referring to another cast:According to Reine-Marie Paris, there are [several] versions of La Valse. In the present sculpture the man is kissing the woman's cheek, and not her neck as is depicted in other […] versions. Additionally, his hand covers the female's hand and the drapery is more accomplished in [the present version].Claudel began La Valse, première version in 1892 and from her first study she created a life-sized plaster, which she exhibited at the Salon of 1893. During this period Claudel was working closely with Rodin, whom she had met in 1883. She not only worked the hands and feet on some of Rodin's larger pieces but also was model to many of Rodin's most important compositions, such as La Pensée (1886) and L'Adieu (1882). There is even speculation that she may have helped carve some of his marbles. Rodin openly pronounced Claudel his equal as a sculptor and they pursued similar themes in their work. The theme of lovers had been explored by Rodin in some of his most important compositions from this period: (Le Baiser (circa 1886) and L'Éternel Printemps (1884). Whereas Rodin's sculptures were essentially structured on a dominant male figure, Claudel's presented a more feminine sensibility that showed greater parity between the male and female figures in La Valse. The two artists also employed a similar technique that emphasized gesture, created tactile surfaces and built up forms. So intense was their relationship that the two were romantically involved for over a decade. In 1898 Claudel officially broke off their affair and went into seclusion, precipitating her eventual confinement to a sanitarium where she died in 1943.Music was also a central inspiration in Claudel's work and the theme of La Valse is reinterpreted in her later sculptures Joueuse de flute and Aveugle Chantant. Her artistic circle included many contemporary musicians and she was rumored to have had an affair with composer Claude Debussy in 1890. While she destroyed many of the records about her sculptures, her brother Paul Claudel recalled that La Valse called to life {quote}the storm and the whirlwind of the dance of the two lovers, drunken with the moment and the music{quote} (R.-M. Paris, op. cit., 1988, p. xix). The figures are entirely self-absorbed. Their intertwining forms and their precarious balance unites them in an expression of the intensity of life. Moreover, the dynamic movement of their dance is emphasized by the motion of the drapery, which both encircles them and grounds them.
  • Akim MONET (b. 1968)Archival Pigment Print on 100% cotton acid-free watercolor paper Image size: 82 x 57 cm, paper size: 100 x 70 cm Ed. 7PROVENANCESide by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH, BerlinEXHIBITEDThe Hand of God, Side by Side Gallery Akim Monet GmbH, Berlin2 May – 12 July 2014LITERATURERodin. An Engagement, photography by Akim Monet, artist’s e-catalogue, Berlin.NOTESRodin, who through his sculptor’s eye, transformed the human body into a vessel of expression, thereby recasting anatomy into emotion, was eager to discover how his work could metamorphose through another art form.  Thus he often invited photographers into his studio, the most famous of whom was Edward Steichen.  Following in this tradition, Akim Monet presented a spontaneous series of photographs to the Musée Rodin, which resulted in an invitation to produce a body of work at the museum.  The present work is from a series visible here
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