International Artists Promotion Group

THE EXHIBITION OF THE SALON “ART EN CAPITAL” 2012 IS OPENED.

When the 1900 Universal Exhibition was over, the Grand Palais, as intended, was to fulfill its vocation as the fine art venue that the French capital had previously lacked, the Louvre having become too small. Throughout the twentieth century, the Grand Palais hosted dozens of official or independent salons, establishing it is a major player in the history of Western art.
•  The Grand Palais opened its doors for the Universal Exhibition with the Centennale, where the impressionists again scored a resounding success. As from the following year, true to its vocation as a fine arts venue, the Grand Palais was to host a number of other salons. First off was the Salon des Artistes Français, whose academism was dismissed by the avant-garde as pompous, followed by the Salon d’Automne, where the younger generation of painters were able to roll out their own manifesto. Finally came the Salon des Indépendants where Cubism made its first appearance spearheaded by a then unknown Spanish artist: Picasso.
•  At the turn of the century, the Salon was the place where any budding artist had to expose to obtain recognition. The oldest of these institutions was the Salon des Artistes Français (1881), successor to the Salon de Peinture inaugurated by Colbert in 1667. However its unswerving academism led to the inception of the breakaway Salon des Indépendants founded by Paul Signac in 1884, where artists rejected by the more venerable show could find refuge. It was here that artists like Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian came to the forefront.
•  To distinguish itself from these spring shows, Rodin, Carrière, Jourdain and other artists created the Salon d’automne in 1903. It was in 1905 that the notorious scandal of the “cage aux Fauves” (the wild beast cage) erupted. The centre of the storm was Room VII. The strident colours used in the paintings of Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck were all the more shocking as they flanked two unequivocally traditional busts by Albert Marquet. Though Fauvism had its supporters, French President, Émile Loubet, was not one of their number. Warned of the presence of many “unacceptable” works, he refused categorically to inaugurate the art show.
•  Today, salons still have their historic home at the Grand Palais — Artistes Français, Artistes Indépendants,  Nationale des Beaux Arts,  Comparaisons,  Dessin et Peinture à l’eau — are united as part of the “Art en Capital” event. The exhibition of 2012 year was open on November 27th, with 14 000 art lovers attended the Opening Day. More than six hundred modern artists: Americans,  Australians,  Austrians, Belgians, Brazilians, Bulgarians, Canadians, Chinese, Cypriots, Colombians, Croats, Danish,  English,  Finlands,  Greece,  Hungarians,  Israelis,  Italians, Japans, Koreans, Lebanese, Luxembourgers, Norwegians, New Zelandians, Netherlanders, Polish, Romanians, Russian, Spanish, Saudis, Swisses, Taiwanese, Turks and other continue the great art tradition of Signac, Seurat, Pissaro, Manet, Van Gogh, Utrillo, Cézanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Chagall, Vlaminck, Giacometti, Modigliani…

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Paris. Champs-Élysées at night.

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Champs-Élysées. The light decoration.

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The light decoration.

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The evening before the grand opening. Everything is ready.

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The afternoon of November 27th. The vernissage.

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The vernissage. Doors are opened.

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The vernissage. First spectators.

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14 000 art lovers attended the Opening Day.

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More than 600 artists participated in this exhibition.

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Some discussion.

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The art viewers.

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Viewers and artworks.

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Inside the exhibition halls.

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Talk about art.

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Street of artworks.

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Good, old the Grand Palace.

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The artistic town.

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View from above.

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… and music

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Untill midnight…

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IT WAS IN 1912…

In 1900, the most important event in the French-Russian artistic relationship was the Paris International Exhibition, where Russia enjoyed an unprecedented place of prominence.
Between 1906 and 1917, a whole host of artists and personalities linked Russia to Europe. Thanks to the inspirational work of Sergei Diaghilev, Europe discovered dance, music and the audacious paintings from Russia. The retrospective fall show that he organized in 1906, which encompassed 750 paintings representing Russian art from the 15th to the 20th century, exhibited the work of young painters such as Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova, Alexei Jawlensky, Pavel Kuznetsov and Léon Bakst.
It was in 1912 that Chagall’s work was exhibited at the Autumn Salon, and Yakov Tugendhold, a writer for the modernist publication St. Petersburg Apollon, praised the young Chagall, saying his works are filled with “rich fire colours like the Russian countryside images, expressed to the grotesque, fantastic, to the limits of the irrational. Chagall senses the imperceptible but terrible mystique of life. Those are the images of Vitebsk – a sullen, dull province, a modest hair salon, a lovers’ rendezvous a bit awkward under a misty moon and street sweepers, a dusty illusion of life on the streets of small villages. Chagall creates beautiful legends by capturing glimpses of the simple and common life.” It is thus not surprising that, in 1913, the Autumn Salon welcomed “Russian Popular Art in the image, the toy and the spice bread, an exhibition organized by Miss Nathalie Ehrenbourg.” These objects came mainly from the collections of members of the art world (Ivan Bilibine, Sergei Soudieikine, Nikolai Roerich, Sergei Tchekhonine), but also from the collections of avant-garde artists such as Koulbine, Exter and primarily Larionov. The catalogue cover for this exhibit was written by Tugendhold himself, reaffirming that “the contemporary cult of the primitive is different from the one of the romantic era and the orientalism era…. This archaic art, strong, expressive, forever young, brings hope of renewal, ‘rejuvenation’ to use Paul Gauguin’s word.

By Jean-Claude Marcardé.

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GUESTS FROM THE EXHIBITION 1912 HAVE BEEN ARRIVED.

Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (1).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (2).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (3).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (4).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (5).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (6).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (7).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (8).

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Guests from the exhibition 1912 have been arrived (9).

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The complete reportage about the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” will be published in December 15th.

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