9.12 A.M, 10.30 A.M, pastel on paper 1991, Estate Guy de Rougemont

Guy de Rougemont (1935-2021) belongs to my childhood. He was a friend of my elder sisters, his father was a strict General and they lived a few blocks from us on rue de Grenelle. His sister, Laure de Beauvau Craon, became famous as President of Sotheby’s in France, for introducing foreign auction houses on the French market. He was a talented painter and sculptor and became a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts in 1997. His sword was designed by Spanish painter, Eduardo Arroyo and included the color cups of a watercolor box and its brush in the silver handle. He lived in the South of France with his wife, the beautiful Anne Marie Deschodt. Pavillon Comtesse de Caen, which  belongs to the Académie des Beaux Arts, has organized an exhibition of his works until September 29. Entrance is free.

Vincent Bioulès, Guy and Anne Marie (Deschodt), 2002-2003, Estate Guy de Rougemont

Since the end of the 1960’s, Rougemont has worked from his studio in Paris and in Marsillargues, south of Nîmes. H has developed diverse geometrical motives and the first sculptures we encounter when walking into the exhibition are multicolor columns made in 2004. This them dates from teh early 1970’s when he produced his “Mise en cooler d’un musée” at Museum of Modern of the city of Paris. These were shown in the town of Floirac in 2012, where he had a show called “TheFour seasons of a Painter”, with works placed in teh streets, in teh castle and in the old courthouse. Pictures show the actual columns at Musée d’Art moderne and a single column made in 1981 for Villeurbane, a large (120 000 inhabitants)  industrial suburb of Lyon, very active in the arts with its famous Théâtre National Populaire founded in 1920..

Untitled (cinq colonnes), 2004, estate Guy de Rougemont

The exhibition is very whimsical and traces back the social and artistic milieu of one of most discreet artist with a mixture of pastels and acrylic paintings, and PVC for its columns. In the 1990’s he develops his “dé-tramés” canvases where he cuts up the compositional space into flat areas of color, rectangles and other geometric shapes. These are reminiscent of Matisse’s cut out papers. Later he creates “serpentine sculptures”, in small scale in bronze, marble, plastic, wood or steel for the interior, or monumental for outside gardens in Majorca, Marrakech or Brittany. One was made in 2010, for Hotel Burgundy in Paris in marble.

Recreation of Guy de Rougemont’s studio which was for him “the artist’s hardcore” where he could recharge his batteries

Pavillon Comtesse de Caen is located on the right hand side of the Institut de France and always offers interesting exhibits related to the Académie des Beaux Arts. Don’t miss this one  which will bring you back into the world of an important French artist of the years 1970-2010. Open till until September 29. And entrance is free.

Detail of the handle for his sword for the Academy designed by Eduardo Arroyo in 1997

On Wednesday September 25, Christophe Leribault, president of Versailles, will be “installé” at the Académie des Beaux Arts and the ceremony promises to be the event of the rentrée.