EXPOSITION HOMMAGE À MICHEL RAGON - EXPRESSION ET NON FIGURATION

COLLECTIONS

Michel Ragon (1924 - 2020), a native of Fontenay-le-Comte, had more than one string to his bow. A writer, poet, historian, essayist, novelist, art and architecture critic, he was an early advocate of abstract art and became a fellow traveller with the artists of the Cobra group. He was only twenty-two when, in 1946, he wrote the first article devoted to Gaston Chaissac in the magazine Maintenant. He described the artist, whom he invited to exhibit in 1948
among the "self-taught painters" at the L'Arc-en-Ciel gallery in Paris, as an "aesthete in a leather apron", "a painter and storyteller, a village craftsman". The two men exchanged letters, which also included a third person, Jules Penfac, an artist and cowherd from the Nantes region created from scratch by the critic, annoyed by the snobbery of Jean Paulhan's bizarre work.

Michel Ragon began his career as editor-in-chief of the review Les Cahiers du peuple, thanks to the generosity of Henry Poulaille. He then moved to Paris, where he worked as a freelance writer for various reviews, including Arts et spectacles. The writer befriended the still little-known avant-garde painters Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Atlan and Gérard Schneider, and championed their work. In 1953, he joined the editorial board of the magazine
Cimaise published by the Arnaud gallery. He then set up as a bookseller and became friends with Robert Giraud and Robert Doisneau, true "street painters".

The new presentation of the modern art collections strikes a balance between "expression and non-figuration", according to the title of a book by Ragon published in 1951 by Delpire. To mark the centenary of his birth, it will pay tribute to him by (re)discovering in his own words the works of some of the artists he loved.

With works by : Pierre Alechinsky, Max Beckmann, Christine Boumeester, Georges Braque, Maurice Brianchon, Pol Bury, Marcelle Cahn, Jules Cavaillès, Gaston Chaissac, Eduardo Chillida, Olivier Debré, Jean Dewasne, Jacques Doucet, Jean Dubuffet, André Dunoyer de Segonzac, Jean Fautrier, Alberto Giacometti, Pierre Giraud, Albert Gleizes, James Guitet, Jean Hélion, Henri Laurens, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Henri Le Fauconnier, Alberto Magnelli, Albert Marquet, Henri Matisse, Roland Oudot, Pablo Picasso, Serge Poliakoff, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Juliette Roche, Michel Seuphor, Pierre Soulages, Léopold Survage, Maurice Utrillo, Henry de Waroquier, etc.

School holidays (all zones) Tuesday to Sunday 11am-1pm and 2pm-6pm.
School holidays Tuesday to Friday 2pm-6pm, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 11am-1pm and 2pm-6pm.

Admission €5/adult, €3/student, free for under-18s, jobseekers and those on minimum social benefits (on presentation of proof).
Free admission for all on the 1st Sunday of the month.