Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art

Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art

View from the Loire of the Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art
Location within France
Established	25 June 2015; 9 years ago (2015-06-25)
Location	Montsoreau, France
Coordinates	47.2156°N 0.0622°E / 47.2156; 0.0622
Type	Contemporary art museum
Collections	Art & Language
Collection size	1,000
Visitors	35,000 (2016)
Founder	Philippe Méaille
Website	Official website

The Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art is a private museum open to the public in Montsoreau, France.^[1][2][3] It opened 8 April 2016.^[4] The permanent collection exhibited at Château de Montsoreau consists of Philippe Méaille's collection of works by the conceptual art collective Art & Language.^[5][6][7][8]

History

Philippe Méaille, who lives in Anjou, worked with Christian Gillet, the president of the department of Maine-et-Loire, to study the possibility of creating a museum of contemporary art in Anjou, and to install his collection in the château de Montsoreau, a departmental property.^[9] On 19 June 2015, Christian Gillet offered Méaille a 25 year lease.^[10][11]

Restoration works

During the redevelopment of a former storage room, the masons discovered a chimney dating from about 1450. This chimney is currently being studied in collaboration with the bâtiments de France to be restored. A library on the history of art, contemporary creation and applied arts opened in August 2016. The château de Montsoreau-Museum of contemporary art port reopened at the end of May 2017 after several months of work, to allow its visitors to arrive by boat.^[12]

Architecture

Since more than a thousand years, the castle of Montsoreau is the gate of Anjou; it is the only Château de la Loire that is a museum of contemporary art. Historically built by one of the ambassadors of Charles VII King of France, Jean II of Chambes^[13] is the first of Kingdom's Lords, with Jacques Cœur to install the Italian Renaissance in France. He built the Château de Montsoreau between 1443 and 1453,^[14] directly by the side of the Loire, like Venetian palaces built during the same period.^[15]

Collection

The Philippe Méaille collection, which constitutes the collection of the museum,^[16] is installed on the first two floors of the museum.^[17] It is composed exclusively of works by the artists group Art & Language.^[18] Founded in 1968, Art & Language – which takes its name from the eponymous newspaper Art-Language^[19] – is made up of British, American and Australian artists.^[20] The collective is still active and currently represented by Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden.^[19]

Between 1965 and now, up to fifty artists have joined or collaborated with Art & Language, including: Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin, Ian Burn, Charles Harrison, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Philip Pilkington, Mel Ramsden, Dave Rushton, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Mayo Thompson, Kathryn Bigelow,^[21] Dan Graham^[22] and Lawrence Weiner. In 1977, when Mayo Thompson, leader of the band The Red Krayola left the collective, it was composed of Michael Baldwin, Charles Harrison and Mel Ramsden. The collection includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, manuscripts, tapuscrits, installations and videos. Carles Guerra said of it: "besides being affected by the artists' attitude, The collection is further affected by the archaeological perspective with which it was assembled."^[23]

Gallery

• 
  Art & Language: Art & Language: Art-Language, Vol.3 Nr.1, 1974.
• 
  Art & Language: Mirror Piece, 1965.
• 
  Art & Language (Michael Baldwin): Air-Conditioning Show, 1966-67.
• 
  Art & Language: Victorine in Art-Language Vol.5 Nr.2 (1984), 1983.
• 
  Art & Language (Mel Ramsden), Secret Painting, 1967.
• 
  Art & Language: Art-Language Vol.5 Nr.1, 1982.
• 
  Art & Language: Art-Language The Journal of Conceptual Art, Vol.1 Nr.1, 1969.

Temporary exhibitions

• 2016: Agnès Thurnauer, a History of Painting.^[24][25]
• 2017: Ettore Sottsass, Designer of the World.^[26][27]
• 2018: Art & Language, Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light).
• 2018: 1968: Sparta Dreaming Athens, collective exhibition, Tony Smith, Edward Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg, Les Levine, Bernar Venet, Maria Marshall, Dan Graham, Art & Language.^[28]
• 2019: Mappa Mundi.^[29]
• 2019: Roman Signer.^[30][31][32]
• 2019: Charlotte Moorman. Think Crazy^[33]

Events

François Morellet Prize

The museum collaborates with the National days of Books and Wine in Saumur, to award an art writer with the François Morellet prize.

• 2016: Catherine Millet, art critic and artpress redactor in chief.^[34]
• 2017: Michel Onfray, Philosopher.^[35]
• 2018: Eric de Chassey, director of the National institute of art history.
• 2019: Bernar Venet, artist.^[36]
• 2020: Kenneth Goldsmith
• 2021: Orlan
• 2022: Bernard Marcadé

Miriam Rothschild Gardens

In 2017, the gardens of the castle were transformed into wild gardens.^[37] On more than one hectare, the garden represents freedom and biodiversity. Miriam Rothschild (1908–2005), a scientific researcher, created the "natural" gardens. The wild garden favors native plants and preserves the surrounding fauna to propose a balance between fauna and flora.^[38][39]

Publications

• 2016: Rod Mengham, Un tour chez Agnès Thurnauer.
• 2016: Art & Language, Entretien avec Victorine Meurend.
• 2017: Art & Language, Affiche: Almost a Home for Homeless Stuff.
• 2017: Fabien Vallos, Philippe Méaille, Antonia Birnbaum, Fabrice Hergott, Chloé Maillet, Louise Hervé, Antoine Dufeu, A Constructed World, Protest 1517-2017. ISBN 978-2-9557917-0-7
• 2018: Art & Language, Matthew Jesse Jackson, Art & Language Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light).ISBN 978-2-9557917-2-1

References

1. "L'Art contemporain réinvente Montsoreau" (in French). ouest-france.fr. 2016.
2. "De l'Art Contemporain au Château de Montsoreau". ouest-france.fr. 19 June 2015.
3. "Le château de Montsoreau devient un centre culturel d'Art Contemporain". saumur-kiosque.com. 19 June 2015.
4. "Le Château de Montsoreau à l'ère Conceptuelle" (in French). lemonde.fr. August 2016. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
5. "Largest collection of radical conceptualists Art & Language finds home in a French château". artnet.com. 2015.
6. "Combining Past, Present and Future: The Contemporary Art Museum at Château de Montsoreau". Mutual Art. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019.
7. "Philippe Méaille installe sa collection au Château de Montsoreau" (in French). connaissancedesarts.com. 2016.
8. "Quand la peinture sort de sa toile : Art & Language à Montsoreau". AOC media - Analyse Opinion Critique (in French). 22 October 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
9. "Montsoreau-Polémique : faut-il confier le château à un collectionneur ?" (in French). courrierdelouest.fr. 18 June 2015.
10. "Chçateau de Montsoreau, un pied dans la Loire, l'autre dans l'art contemporain" (in French). angersmag.info. 20 June 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
11. "De l'art contemporain au Château de Montsoreau" (in French). ouest-france.fr. 19 June 2015.
12. "Réouverture du port historique du Château de Montsoreau". saumur-kiosque.com. 2017.
13. "Famille de Chambes". geneanet.org. 2000.
14. "Charles VII et Louis XI". valedeloire.org. 2000.
15. "Renaissance à Venise". Atthalin. 2000. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
16. "Art & Language empêcheurs de tourner en rond" (in French). artpress.com. 2016.
17. "A Historic Conceptual Art Group Has Taken Over a French Château". Hyperallergic. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
18. "El Valle del Loira y todas sus novedades para el verano". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 August 2017.
19. "Art & Language". tate.org. 2008.
20. "Collection Art & Language". artgallery.nsw.gov.au. 2000.
21. "Kathryn Bigelow life in Arts". castillocorrales.fr. 2000.
22. "Art & Language". mam-st-etienne.fr. 2000.
23. "Art & Language Uncompleted". macba.cat. 2014.
24. "Agnès Thurnauer-Art & Language : une pensée commune de l'art" (in French). lequotidiendelart.com. 2016.
25. "Agnès Thurnauer: a History of Painting". e-flux.com. 3 August 2016.
26. "Ettore Sottsass ou la liberté guidant l'artiste" (in French). lemonde.fr. 2017.
27. "The Met celebrates Ettore Sottsass: the designer who put the fun into function". Financial Review. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
28. Sevior, Michelle (7 November 2018). "ArtPremium – 1968 - Sparta Dreaming Athens at Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art". ArtPremium. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
29. Timsit, Corinne (13 June 2019). "ArtPremium – Art & Language Too Much - In conversation with Philippe Méaille". ArtPremium. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
30. "Le point de vue de Christophe Le Gac". artpress (in French). 1 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
31. "Artists — Roman Signer - Hauser & Wirth". www.hauserwirth.com. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
32. Chernick, Karen (20 September 2019). "The Collector Who Turned a 15th-Century French Castle into a Contemporary Art Destination". Artsy. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
33. l'Ouest, Courrier de (12 November 2019). "Saumurois. Charlotte Moorman " s'installe " pour quatre mois au château-musée de Montsoreau". Courrier de l'Ouest (in French). Retrieved 12 November 2019.
34. "Prix François Morellet | artpress". artpress (in French). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
35. "Prix François Morellet". Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art website. 2017.
36. "Bernar Venet lauréat du Prix François Morellet 2019". daily.artnewspaper.fr. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
37. "Wild Garden - Homage to Miriam Rotschild | Jardins Val-de-Loire". jardins-valdeloire.com. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
38. Martin, Douglas (2005). "Miriam Rothschild, High-Spirited Naturalist, Dies at 96". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
39. Tucker, Anthony; Gryn, Naomi (22 January 2005). "Obituary: Dame Miriam Rothschild". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

External links

• Official website