Simone Pheulpin with Croissance III, photo Antoine Lippens

Some of you might remember the extraordinary exhibition four years ago at la Chapelle Expiatoire of Simone Pheulpin’s folded cotton sculptures? This is where I first encountered the 80 year old artist who celebrates her new decade at Musée des Arts Décoratifs with fifty works shown in the period rooms on the fourth floor, and it is no surprise that they work perfectly well with Emile Gallé’s and Hector Guimard’s furniture or Jeanne Lanvin’s fabulous Rateau screens.  This is a new artistic departure for the former tennis teacher, who has been folding cotton for fifty years now, but was only “discovered” in 2008 par Florence Guilier Bernard, the founder of galerie maison parisienne. The other good fairy in the conception of this exhibition is Chloé Pitiot, an architect by training, who first saw Simone Pheulpin‘s sculptures at PAD and fell in love with them. She is the curator in charge of decorative arts and design at MAD since 2018.

In the wood paneled room “à la capucine” the table is set with faïence birds, fruit and vegetable from 1700 and Simone Pheulpin’ nests from the series Eclosion. Madras, Jodhpur, Darjeeling.

In the first room, comes immediately a visual shock: Babel, 2015, a tower inspired by the Bay of Along visited during a trip to Vietnam, sits on a travelling chest, The Island, a mural made of 6 panels, was first presented in Lodz, Poland in 1995. It is one of the rare murals of the exhibition. They come out beautifully on the travel decor of the room. Then follows a dark little paneled room with a round table on which Simone’s nests fit perfectly with the 18 th century faience birds. In the Chinese room, a Tower and a Cliff have a more rigid vertical attitude with a ribbon like path turning around them. These meanders are inspired by her travels to Asia and the cotton shapes dialogue well with the Chinese lacquer screens which come from Hôtel du Châtelet.

Cliff V, detail, 2015

I liked the windows with blue Chinese porcelain from Dehua  mixed with her sculptures on a blue and white theme. We then enter the art decos rooms with Louis Majorelle’s and Hector Guimard’s furniture. A few rooms with flower decors by Prosper Tétrel follow with a piano by Victor Prouvé and Louis Majorelle, and Simone’s pieces continue to animate these rooms. “Chloé” from the series Croissance and “Entrez dans la danse” are seen in front of Armand Albert Rateau’s screens in gold lacquered wood made for Jeanne Lanvin.

Rateau’s lacquered screens are a perfect decor for Simone Pheulpin’s “Entrez dans la danse”.

The walk through the galleries is a good occasion to revisit the furniture collection of Musée des Arts Décoratifs and looking for Simone Pheulpin’s precious sculptures is like a treasure hunt. One can watch them from close up and try to understand the technique which only uses folded cotton from les Vosges and 25 kgs of invisible pins on a yearly basis. Interestingly, radiographies of her works, showing the pin structure, are often shown as captions and they are beautiful. All visitors who knew her work from 2017, were amazed at the evolution of her sculptures. Some of them take nine months to make, others are easier. One thing is certain: this artist who was only exhibited after some thirty years, has developed a unique art. She is a living treasure…

Chinese porcelain from Dehua works well with Pheulpin’s cotton sculptures

And her modesty equals her talent. She was telling me how her children only realize now the value of her sculptures and worry that she has not kept any works for them. “I always made little objects for my grand children with matches and pins, knitted items or walnut toys with iron threads which I included in the Advent’s calendar”.  But all her sculptures sell immediately to International collectors. Little did she and Florence Guilier Bernard know in 2008 when they met, that her folded cotton sculptures from les Vosges would enter Musée des Arts Décoratifs.  Chloé Pitiot and Anne Foray Carlier  had a great time devising the different decors and they did well!

Until January 16, Musée des Arts Docratifs, 107 rue de Rivoli.