n°5 — october 2019 a new arts district — lausanne … · 2019-10-23 · and its imaginary...

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GN°5 — OCTOBER 2019 A NEW ARTS DISTRICT — LAUSANNE BIANNUAL PUBLICATION

PLATEFORME

ATLAS. A CARTOGRAPHY OF DONATION P. 4 / ABOUT THE MCBA COLLECTIONS P. 8-9 / ALICE PAULI, DETERMINED DONOR P. 10 / LA CROCODILE P. 12-13 / BERNARD FIBICHER, A PASSION FOR PURITY P. 16

PIECES OF THE MCBA

DISCOVERING THE MASTER-

UNDERTHESKIN

Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait with Hands on Chest, 1910.Charcoal, watercolour and white highlights on paper, 44,8 × 31,2 cm

Kunsthaus Zug, Stiftung Sammlung Kamm.

EDIT RIALWe made it! After the laying the foundation stone on October 6th 2016, followed by the inauguration of the building on April 6th and 7th 2019 by more than 21’000 enthusiastic visitors, we have now arrived at the final stage: the presentation of artworks in an architectural set-ting that was designed and built for this very purpose. The building has thus fulfilled its destiny. But the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) also constitutes the first phase of a greater project called PLATEFORME 10. The second building, which will house the Musée de l’Elysée and the mudac, will open its doors in 2021. Therefore, even though the MCBA is finished, it remains at the pro-ject stage.

The idea of a museum as ongoing project is an inter-esting one. Indeed, a museum is a living organism where objects and people interact. The interest vested in these objects changes with time, and their numbers grow. The expectations of society regarding a museum and its objects also change. Everything is constantly in motion; a museum can never rest. It must always reinvent its methodologies and strategies. The “cartography of dona-tion” tendered as the inaugural exhibition bears witness to the manifold interactions between a collection and society. There is something in it for both the institution and the donors: the museum enriches its collections with works that it finds interesting; the donor is integrated into the history of a public museum whose objects are inalienable, and thus owns a small part of eternity. The Atlas exhibition is a way of representing the world through the filter of art in a participatory fashion. Donations often make up the greater part of a museum’s collections. Since the middle of the 19th century, hun-dreds of donors have contributed to shaping the institu-tion. Others will follow in their steps, ensuring that the MCBA remains, in this regard, an ongoing project.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts is finally opening its collections to the public. This eagerly awaited event marks the first exhibition on the PLATEFORME 10 site.

Text Daniel Abimi Photo Matthieu Gafsou

IMPRESSUMPublisher: Etat de Vaud Publication directors: The PLATEFORME 10 board of directorsPublication manager: Daniel Abimi Editorial manager: Constance ChaixEditorial team: Elisabeth Chardon, Emmanuelle Fournier-Lorentz, Jean-Pierre Pastori and Adrien Kuenzy

The MCBA wants to refresh the way we look at the contri-bution of Viennese artists to the birth of modern art. The Under the Skin exhibition presents over 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and art objects created on the cusp of the 20th century.

OPENING WEEK-END

SATURDAY 5TH AND SUNDAY 6TH OF OCTOBER 2019

fter having celebrated the architec-ture of the new Musée cantonal des

Beaux-Arts (MCBA), visitors will now be able to take the time to admire its mani-fold and multifaceted collection.

Over the course of a week-end in April, over 21’000 people crossed the threshold of the museum, witnessing the beauty of its lines in an empty space. As delighted as they were to discover its architecture, they expressed their impa-tience to see the paintings exhibited in both the natural and artificial light of a space that still holds many surprises.

At the end of a 183-day count-down, the MCBA team will have moved the 10’000 artworks that make up its col-lection and simultaneously set up its first exhibition, Atlas. A Cartography of Dona-tion. This unprecedented occasion will enable the museum’s visitors to explore a unique exhibition layout, thus discover-ing the museum’s masterpieces laid out through out the whole building.

In order to provide for the visitors during this opening weekend, the MCBA and PLATEFORME 10 teams have devised a special arrangement for both the inte-rior and the exterior of the museum. Firstly, in light of the crowds expected during this open ing weekend, there will be no guided tours inside the museum. Rather, floating guides will be stationed in each of the museum’s rooms, where visitors will be able to request a brief tour experience: the guide will then share with them a special perspective into a particular artwork.

Outside the museum, it will be pos-sible to sign up to urban visits around the PLATEFORME 10 site. Thanks to the Ville en Tête association, visitors will be able to discover the new arts district in its entirety, thus situating its history and its evolution. Visitors can also sign up to follow in the footsteps of the architect and art historian Mathieu Jaccard during one of his intellec-tual wanders, in which he pushes the art of the conference to its limits. Unclas sifi-able, enthralling, almost a performance.

It will also be an occasion to get to know La Crocodile, devised in the con-text of PLATEFORME 10’s artistic interven-tion contest. This work by Olivier Mosset and Xavier Veilhan is inspired by the leg-endary locomotive of the same name. The sculpture, which measures 18 metres, is made out of cast aluminium and sheet metalwork, painted dark green. There is no doubt that this 7-tonne reptile will become the emblematic figure of this new arts district.

The new building which will house the mudac and the Musée de l’Elysée

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MUSÉE CANTONAL DES BEAUX-ARTS FROM FEBRUARY 14TH TO MAY 24TH 2020VIENNA 1900, FROM KLIMT TO SCHIELE AND KOKOSCHKA

Chantal Prod’Hom, director of the mudac Bernard Fibicher, director of the MCBATatyana Franck, director of the Musée de l’Elysée

is currently under construction, and will be inaugurated in 2021. However, thanks to two outreach workshops, visitors to the opening will be able to dive into the worlds of photography and design in an original and participatory manner. Last but not least, they will also be able to discover the museum’s collections through a cinematic, immersive and partic-ipatory experience in one of PLATEFORME 10’s arcades. These arcades will be offi-cially inaugurated in February 2020, on the occasion of the MCBA’s first tempo-rary exhibition of international scope:

SAVE THE DATE !OPENING WEEKEND OF THE MCBA Saturday Oct 5th 2019, 10am-9pmSunday Oct 6th 2019, 10am-6pmFree entry

Please bear in mind that there might be a wait to enter the exhibition.

Practical information: www.plateforme10.ch www.mcba.ch

English translation: Sarah-Jane MoloneyPhotography: Matthieu Gafsou and Jean-Bernard Sieber Cover by Etienne Malapert Graphic design: Régis Tosetti & Simon Palmieri Printers: PCL Presses Centrales SA, Renens

plateforme10.chmcba.ch / elysee.ch / mudac.ch

Under the Skin. Vienna 1900, from Klimt to Schiele and Kokoschka.

The MCBA and PLATEFORME 10 teams will swing into action together during the opening week-end, with a two-fold ambition: enable the visitors to experience an enchanting and his-toric moment, and make them want to come back again and again, to be con-stant ly discovering something new within the MCBA’s vast collection, while waiting for the Musée de l’Elysée and the mudac to add to the magic of the venue.

DISCOVERING THE MASTER-

PIECES OF THE MCBA

N°5 — OCTOBER 2019 A NEW ARTS DISTRICT — LAUSANNE PAGE 3N°5 — OCTOBRE 2019 PLATEFORME 10 PAGE 2

A CARTOGRAPHY OF DONATION

Project space

Restaurant

Auditorium

MCBA entrance

Auguste Rodin, Le Baiser, 1886.Alice Bailly, Portrait d’Arthur Honegger au “Roi David”, 1921-1922.William Kentridge, Lexicon, 2017.

To honour the possibility of permanently showcasing the manifold cantonal collections, the Atlas. Cartography of Donation inaugural exhibition presents artworks from the collections, spread throughout the entirety of the almost 3200m2 of the MCBA’s exhibition surface.

FLOOR PLAN OF THE EXHIBITION GROUND FLOOR

5.10.2019 –– 12.01.2020

GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES

The circle and the sphere have no begin-ning or end. Yet these symbols of perfec-tion can be uncanny. Which way is up? Which way is down? Such are the circles we draw around ourselves: family, friends… But these circles can become vicious, prisons rather than protections. Marcel Broodthaers and Markus Raetz force us to circle their sculptures, playing with per-spective to finally discover that the for-mer’s remains identical, while the latter’s is entirely reversible…

Claudia Comte (Morges, 1983), Turn and Slip 40, 60 et 120, 2015. Acrylic on canvas, 40, 60 and 120 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition by the Commission cantonale des activités culturelles, 2016.

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Exhibition curator Bernard Fibicher, Director of the MCBA

Bookshop | Shop

A CARTOGRAPHY OF DONATION

ATLASATLAS

N°5 — OCTOBER 2019 PLATEFORME 10 PAGE 4 N°5 — OCTOBER 2019 A NEW ARTS DISTRICT — LAUSANNE PAGE 5

1ST FLOOR 2ND FLOOR

Auguste Rodin (Paris, 1840 – Meudon, 1917), Le Baiser, 1886.Bronze. Sand casting, 71,5 × 45 × 48 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Bequest by Henri-Auguste Widmer, 1936.

Pierre Soulages (Rodez, 1919), Peinture, 1956.Oil on canvas, 162 × 114 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Donation by Alice Pauli, 2016.

Paul Klee, Am Nil (By the Nile), 1939.Painting with glue, paper mounted on burlap.Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.Donation, 2011.

Giuseppe Penone (Garessio, 1947),A occhi chiusi, 2018.Carrera marble, canvas, acrylic, glass microspheres, acacia thorns, 200 × 630 cm.Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Donation by Alice Pauli, 2018.

PAINThis room brings together representa-tions of grief and suffering, one of the great themes of art history. Think of the Christus dolens or the mater dolorosa. Can we not see in Giuseppe Penone’s monumental work an allusion to the Turin shroud and the crown of thorns? As for Miriam Cahn’s floating women with wide eyes, they dialogue with Félix Vallotton’s allegory of pain…

TERRA INCOGNITA

On medieval maps, the as yet unexplored territories — the so-called terrae incogni-tae — remain blank. Conversely, Pierre Soulages explores the vast universe of the Outrenoir. To be able to see in the dark and to see the darkness, one must sharpen one’s senses. On the subject of the black sculptures that made her famous, Louise Nevelson used to say that this colour contained all other colours within it.

MAP OF TENDERNESS

In the middle of the 17th century, Madeleine de Scudéry, who held a literary salon, designed a map for an allegorical country named “Tendre”, in which the traveller journeys through the different stages of a love life. In this exhibition, the map of tenderness directs the visitor to the endearing meeting of a couple of young peasants, painted in front of a river by Charles Giron, as well as Jean Clerc’s tiny embracing bronze couples…

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Emile David (Lausanne, 1824 – Rome, 1891),Forêt de Castelfusano, 1891.Oil on canvas, 87 × 165 cm.Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Donation by Arts Visuels Vaud, 2019.

FLUXA flow map inventories sleeping waters and rushing torrents. But how does one pin down the most fluctuating of ele-ments? John M. Armleder contributes a pertinent answer to this paradox. Anselm Kiefer celebrates the majesty of the Rhine and its imaginary world fed by Germanic mythology. One year before his death, Paul Klee painted the Nile, which he had seen 10 years earlier. In his eyes, the river represented the threshold to the other world…

Julian Charrière (Morges, 1987), We Are All Astronauts, 2013.13 globes made out of glass, plastic, paper and wood. Base made out of metal and MDF board. Dust gathered from the surface of the sandpapered globes, approx. 150 × 320 × 160 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2015.

William Kentridge (Johannesburg, 1955), Lexicon, 2017.Bronze, 135 × 180 × 15 cm.Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Donation by Alice Pauli, with reservation of usufruct, 2017.

Thomas Hirschhorn (Berne, 1957),Swiss Army Knife, 1998.Mixed media, approx. 400-500 m2.Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.Long-term loan by the Walter A. BechtlerFoundation.

SWISS ARMY KNIFE

Between 1845 and 1864, the General Dufour — hero of the Sonderbund war — published an official map of Switzerland on a 1 : 100’000 scale. The “Dufour map” is, to this day, a historical source of the utmost importance. To draw a subjective cartogra-phy of his country, Thomas Hirschhorn turns to another legendary object. With the help of the Swiss army knife, he slices into Helvetic myths (the army, watchmak-ing, Nazi gold, Ferdinand Hodler)…

François Dubois (Amiens, 1529 – Genève, 1584),Le Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy, circa 1572-1584. Oil on wood, 93,5 × 154,1 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.Donation by the Municipality of Lausanne, 1862.

HISTORYIn the 17th century, history painting – victo-ries, massacres, heroes, gods – dominated the hierarchy of painting genres. While Eugène Burnand sits firmly within the tradi-tion when staging his escape of Charles the Bold, Olivier Mosset celebrates the death of “heroic” painting. He reduces it to its basest components. No more composition, no more know-how, no more emotions…

GLOBESThe first globes (16th century) were perfect demonstrations of not only the scientific qualities that determine the cartographic enterprise, but also its aesthetic ones. Louise Hopkins’ globe is rendered unread-able by her interventions in white ink that redraw the continents, while Julian Charrière erases the geopolitical borders of his globes with sandpaper.

INDEX OF LANDS TO COME

Not unlike the index of names cited in a book, this index is loosely organised around key words: portrait, painting, land-scape, window. We can interpret it as a het erogenous enumeration of objects, a series of allusive groupings, or a new plate in the atlas. Thus, in Les cours du temps, an installation dating from 1978, Silvie and Chérif Defraoui present a bou-quet of votive candles, a beer glass, an ex-voto…

FORESTFrom the 17th to the 19th century, from Jacob van Ruisdael to Caspar David Friedrich, from Gustave Courbet to Ivan Chichkine, the forest appears as a major theme in landscape painting. Later, in the work of Ernest Biéler, the tree acquires the sta-tus of solitary hero. For Francine Simonin, it throws its arms up in the air with a tri-umphant gesture. Just like Rebecca Horn, Giuseppe Penone reassembles branches in an artificial construction that is far re moved from naturalism…

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Alice Bailly (Genève, 1872 – Lausanne, 1938), Portrait d’Arthur Honegger au “Roi David”, 1921-1922.Oil on canvas, 82 × 66,5 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.Donation by the Archives culturelles romandes, 2002.

MUSICA few artists have taken up the gauntlet of translating music into a visual medium. Such is the case of Charles Blanc-Gatti, “the painter of sounds”, and Zao Wou-Ki, who draws inspiration from Varèse to create vast movements of colourful masses. Music is an endless source of inspira-tion (for Alice Bailly, Arnulf Rainer, even Ernest Biéler). Perhaps because it con-fronts painting, that “silent poetry”, with its own limits.

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Focus space


humanities. In the middle of the 19th cen-tury, it was a provincial, protestant town, with little interest in the visual arts. When the Musée Arlaud was inaugurated in 1841, it was thanks to a small group of enthusiasts, collectors and others who supported the launch of such a project. Almost two centuries later, when we take stock of the collection, the most striking thing is the quality of the dona-tions and consignments we have received, which also reflects the paucity of means available for acquisitions. These dona-tions have been made either by private persons, whom the successive museum teams managed to approach and con-vince, or by large public and private foundations, even by the Confederation and the Gottfried Keller foundation.

Can you give us some examples?In the context of the Atlas exhibi-

tion we will be showing a monumen-tal in stal la tion (over 400 m2) by Thomas Hirschhorn called Swiss Army Knife. This work is on long-term loan by the Walter A. Bechtler Foundation. The work was made in 1998 for the Bern Kunsthalle, then directed by Bernard Fibicher. The links between the artist and the man who later became director of the MCBA endured, and have come full circle thanks to the fact that the foundation that acquired the artwork chose to loan it to Lausanne. Donations are thus often linked to per-sonal stories. Like the letter we received from a notary informing us that a lady we had never met was bequeathing us a painting by Monet that was being kept in a bank safe. At first, we thought it was a joke. Then we discovered a magnificent seascape dating from the beginning of the impressionist painter’s career. Then there are those who, after witnessing an exhibition — this is quite frequently the case — are convinced by the quality of the institution’s work, and announce intentions to donate that sometimes come to pass very quickly. Finally, there are persons who follow the work of the museum from the outside, look at what is contained within the collection and think: my piece would fit in nicely there !

How does one refuse donations? The offers are evaluated in light of the

identity of the collection and the paths we wish to open up, or not. A committee sits with the direction and the team of cura-tors. A presentation file is prepared for acquisitions as well as donations. The idea is to ask ourselves whether we can work with this piece, even if it is not necessarily in the near future. There is no point in hoarding for the sake of hoarding. There must be an inclination, a conviction, a link with the collection, whether it is a closed link — completing established fields, within the major axes of the collection — or a branching out.

Have there been donations that have marked new directions in the history of the museum?With the opening of the Musée Arlaud,

there was an attempt to constitute, with modest means, a small collection of works representative of the French, Italian and Northern schools. And to put together a collection of casts from works of Antiquity to serve as models for students. In the second half of the 19th century, the collect-ing urge was mainly directed at Swiss art of the time. What people forget when they see Calame, Burnand… is that they were contemporary artists when their work was purchased. Through lack of means, it was impossible to constitute a solid historical collection ex nihilo. When the collection of Henri-Auguste Widmer — a man whom I have studied in depth — entered the museum, between 1936 and 1939, it changed everything. This doctor from Lausanne gifted his private collection of artworks to the museum. And suddenly we had Degas, Courbet, the Post-Impressionists, the Nabis. He also donated sculptures — Rodin, Maillol, Bourdelle — as well as Cézanne, Renoir, Matisse. It rep-resented a new direction, the collection was remapped, it opened itself up to Europe, and largely to France.

What is the place of donations and acquisitions in the collection?The collection contains more than

10’000 pieces, of which a great number

The inaugural exhibition, Atlas, shines a light on the consignments, donations and acceptances in lieu that have entered the collection these past few years, motivated by the perspective of a new fine arts museum. An occasion to explore the collection with Catherine Lepdor, chief curator and head of collections.

Catherine Lepdor, what studies, what life course led you to occupy this position?After my art history studies in Lausanne,

which first sparked my interest in the French 19th century, I went to Paris and completed a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Aesthetics. At the time, I earned a living translating art history texts from German to French. I was looking for translation jobs and so to make myself known to the new director of the Lausanne museum, Jörg Zutter, I applied for a job as a curator. For me, it was an opportunity to meet this German professional and to offer my services as a translator. I passed the first round of interviews, then the second,

and thus arose the serious question of whether I wanted to continue with the thesis I was writing in Paris on the social dimension of the work of art, or whether I wanted to work for a museum, which was not a path I had initially considered. I decided I should seize this opportunity to work more concretely on objects. I showed up to the last round of inter-views and thus became a curator; later, chief curator. I quickly specialised in exhibitions of so- called ancient and mod-ern art — that is to say from the middle of the 18th century to just before World War II — and also exhibitions linked to the collection, its conservation and its evolution.

In what year did you start working for the museum?In 1992. The canton had just declared

its intention of building an independent building to house the fine art collections, which also played an important role in my decision to shift from the academic world to that of the museum. I realised that in my canton of origin, in a city of which I was fond, there was a project brewing which would shine a new light on the fine arts. I had always thought that music, the per-forming arts and literature had ben e-fited from wonderful initiatives but that the visual arts had been somewhat left behind. The years went by, projects suc-ceeded one another. I am delighted today that this project has come to frui-tion and to see the collection, which I have been taking care of for a long time, move to PLATEFORME 10.

A collection which will finally have pride of place in the new museum.Yes indeed, I am one happy curator!

What I wished for for more than twenty years is finally happening, that is to say rooms dedicated solely to the muse-um’s permanent collection. At Rumine, the collection was only solicited during thematic exhibitions, which did not always ensure smooth relationships with our donors: it was always difficult for us to explain that we would not be able to present the artworks they were thinking of donating to the public right away. The same problem posed itself for schools, who were unable to schedule regular visits to see the Massacre de la Saint-Barthélémy by François Dubois – which is one of the most reproduced paintings in history manuals, even in the United States. The permanent collection can finally be showcased, and will be freely accessible. We now have a museum in the heart of the city where anyone can drop in, drink a coffee in the restaurant, pop up to see L’eau mystérieuse by Ernest Biéler, and leave. This is also an important way of patronising museums. A museum should not only offer large-scale projects that require a long visit, but should also be a place that we fre-quent in a more spontaneous manner. The MCBA will offer nine exhibitions each year, in many different formats. There is one room that is particularly close to my heart: the Focus Space, related to the collection, where we will show recent donations in parallel with the tempo-rary exhibitions. And the Project Space, devoted to contemporary art, which will enable us to react quickly to what we see, and like, in artists’ studios.

All that will be implemented after the inaugural exhibition, Atlas. Yes, this inaugural exhibition will

occupy the 3200 m2 of available space. The choice was made by Bernard Fibicher to give over the opening of the museum entirely to its permanent collection. It is quite a frequent practice, but the origi-nality of this particular gesture lies in its focus on donations. The latter are par-ticularly important for the institution. It has often been said that Lausanne is a beautiful peasant that has studied the

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Olivier Mosset (Berne, 1944), Sans titre, 1982. Acrylic on canvas, 213 × 637 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2016.

of masterpieces are also donated, con-signed or accepted in lieu, the latter being a way of settling inheritance tax. That is how we recently came to accept pieces from the Jean-Claude Givel estate. In the history of the museum, donations are often linked to expansion projects. Similarly to when the Palais de Rumine was built, the new museum project at PLATEFORME 10 has sparked a huge impetus. The Atlas exhibition will be the occasion to show works that would not be part of the collection if this project had not come to pass. Such is the case of Thomas Hirschhorn’s installation, but also of donations by the gallery owner Alice Pauli, Betty and Hartmut Raguse, Paul and Tina Stohler, pledges by Alain and Suzanne Dubois, consignments by Marcel Bahro, and private persons who have wished to remain anonymous… visitors will be able to discover many of these works. Other than these recent entries, we will also go further back into the his-tory of the collection to show the constant generosity that has been directed at the museum.

What can you tell us about the title which brings together these works in the exhibition: Atlas? For Bernard Fibicher, these donations

and consignments make up an atlas. He has mapped out themes and created links that will delight and surprise. We are both part of a generation that was influenced by Walter Benjamin and Aby Warburg, that loved the exhibitions of Harald Szeemann and Jean-Hubert Martin and, following in this tradition, likes to construct propositions and create mean-ing through the juxtaposition, the dia-logue, even the piling-up of objects. It will certainly be a daring and unexpected proposition, which will invite us to look at these pieces with fresh eyes.

Can you tell us about some more artworks that will figure in Atlas?La Fuite de Charles le Téméraire, by

Eugène Burnand, is a masterpiece which is often found in history books. Bernard Fibicher is going to exhibit it opposite a recent acquisition, a red monochrome by Olivier Mosset. La Fuite is a consign-ment by the Confederation which arrived from the Eugène Burnand Museum in Moudon. The canvas had to be rolled in order to be taken out of a window of the museum. It was then re-mounted on its frame here. It has been reunited with its historic setting. The painting, which I was unable to secure for the Burnand retrospective in 2004, has demanded considerable monitoring. To exhibit these two works together is to bring two visions of History face to face. When Olivier Mosset was organising his exhibition at Rumine in 2003, I saw to what extent he was fascinated by the monumental and panoramic dimension of history painting. As for Burnand, he constructed a crank-operated chassis, planted a forest of pine trees in his studio, had his wife draw and sew costumes, hired villagers to pose as Charles the Bold’s soldiers. He organised an actual casting call to find the right Charles the Bold. Pure cin-ema. And all that can also be found in Mosset’s work.

This Atlas is not just a journey through the museum’s recent history. Working on the collection by drawing

on its reserves is a fascinating endeav our. The Atlas inaugural exhibition is very current, while still proposing historical elements; it will show the collection starting from its origins and up to the insti tution’s current attention to art that is being produced today. Lausanne has a very streamlined collection because, at the beginning, its poverty of means led it to concentrate on certain artists, with which we now identify the institution. We know we will find the names of great Swiss artists: Ducros, Vallotton, Steinlen, Hodler, Soutter, Aloïse, who are very solid pillars and constitute a calling card. And since many of these artists made their careers abroad, the museum always considered itself as open to the rest of the world. We will also be able to wit-ness this in March 2020, when the rooms housing the permanent collection will be opened to the public, and a new col-lection guide will present a commentary of two hundred artworks.

Eugène Burnand (Moudon, 1850 – Paris, 1921), La Fuite de Charles le Téméraire, 1894-1895. Oil on canvas, 320 × 540 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne.

Consignment by the Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture, Bern, 1896.

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Find the full interview on www.plateforme10.ch

Discover the collections of the MCBA online on www.mcba.ch/collection

Text Elisabeth ChardonPhoto Jean-Bernard Sieber


A sublime photography book traces the evolution of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts’ new building, from construction site to end result. The project – which was directed by the author Philip Jodidio and the graphic designer Flavia Cocchi, both renowned in the publishing world – advocates a slow immersion into yet uninhabited spaces.

Text Adrien Kuenzy Photo Jean-Bernard Sieber

Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne→ Architecture, ArtTexts by Philip Jodidio24 × 29,5 cm / 224 pages / 150 photographs40 € / 45 CHF / Rizzoli ElectaPublication : October 2nd 2019Available for purchase at the MCBA bookshop WITHIN

he photography book dedicated to the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts

(MCBA) is a sparkling piece of work. The cover, however, shows only a close-up of some bricks. On the back cover, a photo-graph taken from within the building — through the imposing half-moon window that adorns the south façade — extends our gaze towards the world beyond. We must open the book, page through it. In this moment a secret is revealed that has long remained buried, hidden between the four walls that many people were quick to call austere. Here, nothing is gloomy: the still-empty spaces are pierced through by zenithal or traversing beams of light. The photographs, taken by vari-ous artists including Matthieu Gafsou, rep-resent as many ways of looking at these

luminous cut-outs, as well as the volumes generated by the various displays of light. Suddenly, we feel like privileged witnesses. The immersion is hypnotising. There is shadow and light. Night and silence, too, more difficult to experience on site. The journey is palpable, intimate.

The building appears from the very first pages, in between the lines. Indeed, we must make our way through the rich history of Lausanne, the home of the new MCBA. Then through its embodiment before its reincarnation: the Palais de Rumine, whose history appears here as a thrilling dive into its archives and collec-tions. The two project leaders — the author of the texts Philip Jodidio and the graphic designer Flavia Cocchi — got on well from the first. They undertook to devise the

book in an organic manner, thanks to var-ious materials that were either previously unheard or belonged to history. The object they have created is aesthetic and per-fectly visually homogenous. “The building has such a powerful aura that it was essen-tial to do everything in our power to translate this through a rigorous selection of photographs, explains Flavia Cocchi. On some pages we decided to display pictures only, in order to underline their strength and independence.” Philip Jodidio adds, almost in unison: “I have enormous respect for the field of graphic design and its visual questions. The pleasurable part of the work was that we almost always agreed with each other. Indeed, it was primordial for us to symbolically pene-trate through these walls, to enable the

reader to appreciate the light effects. One must not chase away emptiness, but welcome it.” Bolstered by their acclaimed careers, the duo was perfectly able to set their respective egos aside in order to carry out the project, placing the book at the centre of their preoccupations. “During my career, I found my place by explaining architecture to a wide audi-ence in a simple manner, reveals the author. Many critics situate themselves within a particular current, which is not my case.” For Flavia Cocchi, it would be unimaginable to step away from her aspi-rations, principally articulated around culture. “I am lucky enough to be able to choose which projects I undertake. Working on a book such as this one was an incredible gift.”

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A TREASUREHIDES

ALICE PAULI

Text Jean-Pierre PastoriPhoto Jean-Bernard Sieber

The Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) has received invaluable support in the person of Alice Pauli. The internationally renowned gallery owner has nurtured close ties to the artistic life of the canton of Vaud for over half a century.

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n the Sixties, with her husband Pierre by her side, Alice Pauli was linked to the

Tapestry Biennials and the Pilot Galleries of René Berger, the director of the MCBA at the time. Opened in 1962, their gallery on the avenue de Rumine raised the profile of innumerable artists, whether they came from close by, such as Jean Lecoultre and Denise Voïta, of from further afield, such as Sam Francis, Louise Nevelson, Jim Dine, Julius Bissier and Mark Tobey. Implanted in the Flon neighbourhood since 1990, the Alice Pauli gallery is a refer-ence on the art market. It has been pres-ent at Art Basel for over forty years. And for two decades it featured prominently at the FIAC (International Contemporary Art Fair) in Paris. But the gallery owner is also a collector. It should come as no surprise that she was often reluctant to sell pieces of which she had become particularly fond!

Alice Pauli also hopes the new museum will have an international scope. An ambition which can only be favoura-ble to local artists, who will thus benefit from an increased visibility. Aware of the

cantonal institution’s financial constraints, she knows that many unmissable artist pieces do not fall within the museum’s budget for new acquisitions. Not only has Alice Pauli pledged such superb pieces as the sculpture by Giuseppe Penone — 15 metres high — that towers over her garden, but she has already donated some to the museum. Other very special pieces will join the MCBA shortly before its opening: Penone, Soulages, Kapoor, Kiefer, Nunzio, Cognée, Paolucci… Artists which do not only make the gal-lery’s reputation, but in a way are part of Alice’s adopted family.

When she evokes these decades filled with her passion for art, Alice Pauli constantly refers to her husband Pierre and her son Olivier, who both passed away prematurely; the former in 1970, the latter in 1994. These two ordeals could have stopped her in her tracks. And yet she bravely carried on, regret-fully giving up on the idea she had been working on with her son to open branches of her gallery in Paris and even in New York. Having studied at

Columbia University and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Olivier Pauli had left the Télévision suisse romande to work with his mother. It was he who had convinced Pierre Soulages to inaugurate the new Flon space with a monumental exhibition, thus orches-trating a major event. But he also en -sured a connection with the younger gen eration: Philippe Cognée, Jaume Plensa…

Without a direct heir, Alice Pauli is all the more determined to put her support and her contacts, including with collectors, at the museum’s disposal. She is convinced that a modern architec-ture such as that of Barozzi and Veiga, as well as great figures of contemporary art, will enable the museum to broaden its circle of visitors. She remembers with excitement the great success of the Ai Weiwei exhibition. There is no doubt in her mind that the museum will con-tribute to reaching wider audiences, es pe cially when it comes to certain con-temporary forms that require the gaze to be educated.

PORTRAITN°5 — OCTOBER 2019 PLATEFORME 10 PAGE 10 N°5 — OCTOBER 2019 A NEW ARTS DISTRICT — LAUSANNE PAGE 11

Text Constance ChaixPhotos Matthieu Gafsou, Enzyme Design

On July 3rd, a delegation from the jury of the “Art and architecture” artistic intervention contest linked to PLATEFORME 10 (CoArt) traveled to Grigny (FR) to check in on the progress of the 2017 winner, a sculpture titled La Crocodile, by Xavier Veilhan and Olivier Mosset 1. It will be possible to admire this monumental project on the PLATEFORME 10 site as of October 1st 2019.

he delegation meets on July 3rd at 11am in the offices of the Mongin firm,

30 or so kilometres from Paris. Xavier Veilhan and his team are on site, and waste no time in setting off towards the building where the sculpture is currently being assembled.

Arriving in front of La Crocodile, everyone is instantly awed by its size. Indeed, the sculpture is inspired by the CE 6/8 III locomotive model of the Swiss federal railways, nicknamed the “croco-dile”. A 1 : 1 scale was opted for in order to underline the sculpture’s expressive force, meaning it will measure 18 metres in length and 3,3 metres in height.

The piece is made up of 3 pieces of aluminium sheeting, as well as removable

LAST STOPS BEFORE PLATEFORME 10

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↓ Vue latérale de La Crocodile et des roues en cours d’assemblage.

wheels, weighing a total of 7 tonnes. The pieces of aluminium sheeting are soldered and bolted to form an almost symmet-rical structure. Only one of La Crocodile’s wheels is slightly different, serving as an entrance point through which to reach the underside of the sculpture during maintenance work. This mode of construc-tion in several parts will facilitate the trans-port of the piece to Lausanne, as well as its move when the construction of the entire PLATEFORME 10 site is finished. Indeed, the work was devised to accom-pany the different stages of the construc-tion site.

This is the penultimate stage in the realisation of the work, before it is painted. Before that, the Enzyme Design

firm was commissioned by Xavier Veilhan and Olivier Mosset to devise and make the aluminium sheeting that is being assembled here.

Following this visit to Grigny, the members of CoArt, as well as Xavier Veilhan and his team, journey on to Paris to visit the artist’s studio. They have lunch together and discuss the last details con-cerning La Crocodile, including the final choice of paint colour, as well as modalities concerning the delivery and installation of the work.

In the end, La Crocodile will be covered in a slightly texturized “croco-dile green” paint, similar to that used for industrial machines. The granulometry of this paint makes it very resistant to

LA CR C DILE

1 See PLATEFORME 10 magazine n°1.

scratches and weather damage. This last stage will take place in August 2019.

At the end of this day of visits in the French capital and its surroundings, the CoArt delegation was able to con-clude that La Crocodile was on track to arrive in Lausanne, her final destination, according to schedule. It will first be set up next to the west wing of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts.

↑ Xavier Veilhan, Chantal Prod’Hom (President of the Board of Directors of PLATEFORME 10 and Director of the mudac) and Emmanuel Ventura (President of the CoArt jury, cantonal architect).

↑ Plan of La Crocodile. ← Internal structure of La Crocodile.

↓ Transport of La Crocodile between the construction and painting firms.

↓ Assembly detail with bolts, deliberately left apparent.

↑ La Crocodile in the painting workshop.

↑ Side view of La Crocodile and its wheels being assembled.


Text Emmanuelle Fournier-LorentzPhoto Jean-Bernard Sieber

The Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts will offer a day of playful tours on October 4th 2019 especially for the students of the canton. The aim? To give children their own special, made-to-measure event, thus ensuring they have a lively and exciting experience, while also giving them a taste for art.

The link between the PLATEFORME 10 site and the world of railways is not only symbolic. The new arts district will be situated at the very heart of the public transport system. Only a few steps away from Lausanne’s train station, close to the M2 station and the TL network, it is connected to the whole of Switzerland, the four corners of the canton of Vaud and the entire conglomeration of Lausanne. It will be equidistant from Milan and Paris. Once again, a symbol, yet also a reality. To mark this almost organic link,

PLATEFORME 10 and the MCBA have entered into a partnership with Mobilis, in order to facilitate the transport of the almost 400 students traveling from the classrooms of the canton. As a reminder, Mobilis is the public transport fare system of the Vaud pricing zone (communauté tarifaire vaudoise, or CTV). The CTV is made up of 13 public transport partner companies, offering over 3100 kilometres of networks, distributed over 129 pricing zones, thus serving 306 municipalities in the canton of Vaud.

VISITING THE MUSEUM

AGAINAND AGAIN

AT THE HEART OF THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM

o be among the first visitors to walk into the Musée cantonal des Beaux-

Arts, at merely 4 years old, is no regular occurrence. And yet twenty-odd classes of the canton of Vaud will have this very same opportunity on the 4th of October, on the eve of the official public opening. The students will discover the brand-new spaces over the course of an entire day tailored specially to them. “Welcoming classes to the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts is not new. We have been doing it for years and will continue to do so with the PLATEFORME 10 project”, explains Sandrine Moeschler, the institution’s head of education. She continues: “The museum is an inexhaustible resource for students and teachers alike.”

In parallel with the exclusive days dedicated to the visits of sponsors and partners, artists and journalists, one day will be entirely reserved for students from the canton of Vaud. “Children are not only the visitors of tomorrow, they count among our current patrons, points out Sandrine Moeschler. They can have intense and rich experiences in a museum.” Faithful to its missions, the MCBA has an original activity up its sleeve.

Indeed, as soon as the 1P to 11S classes arrive in the building, they will be welcomed by a museum educator, but will soon come face to face with an actor, who will embody an element of

an artwork, a room or a theme from the current exhibition, Atlas. A Cartography of Donation. This original and mindful way of engaging with a work of art will “value the students’ knowledge and observation skills, by taking the time to look at and analyse paintings together”. The students take agency over their visit by “confronting themselves with objects and artistic approaches”.

As well as being a fantastic initia-tion to art and its issues, this type of visit also allows for class dynamics to be upended: “The students don’t necessar-ily behave in the same way as they do in class. Thus, a shy student might speak up, while another might concentrate better than usual…” She continues: “School is a force for cultural democratisation. Thanks to these visits, children of different social backgrounds, origins and ages are all able to visit the museum.” This wonderful pro-gramme of specially prepared guided tours will last a little over an hour, and will be documented by the students of the Eracom. Moreover, more traditional guided tours will continue all year round. The partnership with Mobilis set up by PLATEFORME 10 will ensure that public transport to the museum on October 4th will be free. “A way of overcoming some of the obsta-cles that may otherwise restrict teachers who want to organise field trips”, sums up the museum educator.

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The museum will offer other nov-elties for young students, such as a note-book in which they can record their visits, to encourage them to “come back more than once, to familiarise themselves with the museum and increase their awareness of how to read a work of art”. Another activity will be the focus on a specific piece of the exhibition, which the class will study, in order to produce and finally exhibit their own work in relation to the former. “Our goal is to make the museum

lively and accessible”, imparts Sandrine. “And of course, to make the students want to visit us again and again!”

For the inauguration of the MCBA, two children’s books will be published by the Joie de Lire editions : Ça bouge au musée and Regarde, elles parlent !Available in the museum bookshop

The PLATEFORME 10 adventure does not end with the inauguration of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts — on the contrary! The next important stages in the construction process will punctuate this great project until its completion in 2021.

Photos Yves Gigon (model), Matthieu Gafsou (Elysée-mudac construction site)

STAGES THE NEXT STAGES OF PLATEFORME 10

THE ARCADES

The arcades will house different cultural activities as of February 2020: a prefigu-ration of the Musée de l’Elysée and the mudac (until their permanent move to the site), Caran d’Ache will offer work-shops linked to its products, and the Association Suisse des Métiers d’Art will present its activities. A café, linked to the MCBA restaurant, will also take its place in the arcades.

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2THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF THE MUSEE DE L’ELYSEE AND THE MUDAC

The new building which will house the mudac and the Musée de l’Elysée, devised by the Portuguese architects Aires Mateus, is currently under construc-tion. The work is going smoothly, and the building should already be water- and weather-proofed by 2020. The empty

building will be entrusted to its occu-pants in 2021, and will open officially a few months later with its first exhibition, which will be common to the three muse-ums of PLATEFORME 10.

GENTLE MOBILITY RAMP AND BOTANICAL WALK

A gentle mobility walkway, intended for pedestrians and cyclists, will link the Place de la Gare with the Avenue Marc-Dufour, crossing the PLATEFORME 10 site. The Muse um and the Cantonal Botanical Gardens have been invited to green up the walkway’s surroundings with an

educational journey describing urban vegetation and its rich biodiversity. Work began in February 2019, and the walkway will be ready for use in 2021.

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PORTRAITText Adrien KuenzyPhoto Jean-Bernard Sieber

For Bernard Fibicher, director of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, all artistic fields communicate. As passionate about traveling as he is about John Cage’s endeavours, he sees the world through the filter of art. When talking about the new venue he is directing, alongside an interdisciplinary, growing team, his emotion is apparent.

othing predestined Bernard Fibicher, director of the Musée cantonal des

Beaux-Arts (MCBA) since 2007, for art history. A student of literature, then jour-nalism, he decided to change course and happened upon the subject by acci-dent. Soon thereafter, an encounter with a professor at the University of Bern opened up new possibilities. “He was remarkable, explains Bernard Fibicher. He took us to Rome to visit sites that were inaccessible to tourists!” There, he discovered with emotion the frescoes of the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel as well as Caravaggio’s dramatic paintings. But the professor’s requirements soon called him to order: his first written essay got demolished. An old-school tactic that pushed him to work harder, enabling him little by little to admire the works of Salvador Dalí — his first love — through the finely tuned eyes of an expert. “Today, he admits, I see life through the lens of art. I never travel to Africa or Asia by chance. I always need to have an objec-tive in mind, motivated by an exhibition.” In order to assuage his curiosity, he also prefers discovering things off the beaten track. He categorically refuses the parti-tioning of artistic practices, which in his opinion are enriched when they dia-logue with or confront each other. Thus painting, but also music, which he pre-fers in its minimalist form. He quotes Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich, without for-getting the versatile John Cage, who was both a musician and an artist. “In the same way, there is no point in erecting barriers between art and life. Art feeds on life. And in return it gives us keys to understand it better.”

A perfectionist at heart, the direc-tor participated in the construction of the new MCBA building, taking many details to heart — such as the oak flooring, which he favoured over mineral materials for its warmth. “A museum is the result of a dif-ficult union between optimal conserva-tion and visibility conditions for a work

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BERNARD FIBICHER

A PASSION

FOR PURITY

of art, and the layout of an ideal space for visitors.” With a necessary distance, he also revisits the failure of the first project envisaged in Bellerive, experienced as a heavy blow, before the city and the can-ton came together to act. “The current site is much better, he enthuses. Although perhaps less idyllic, it holds enormous potential! Close to the train station, it is perfect for encouraging a variety of visi-tors within a limited area.”

Bernard Fibicher is perfectly aware that a director is nothing without his dream team. The latter has doubled in size to meet the new challenges head on, currently standing at thirty-odd collab-orators. In order to move the Palais de Rumine’s 10’000 pieces without a hitch, a colossal endeavour was undertaken over the course of a year, overseen by the restorers, conservators and registrars. “My colleagues proved themselves to be incredibly professional. And the ‘icing on the cake’ was that when the time came to inventory the pieces, none of them were missing and none had been dam-aged!” Relieved, Bernard Fibicher also remembers those summers during which Japanese and other tourists would come to the Palais de Rumine in the hope of admiring the paintings of Félix Vallotton, only to discover that they were being stocked in the basement, through lack of space. “Today we can finally reveal the masterpieces of our canton, thanks to the permanent exhibitions.” A world-famous heritage that will certainly enthral the people of Vaud as much as new interna-tional partners.

“Art feeds on life. And in return it gives us keys

to understand it better.“

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N°5 — OCTOBER 2019 PLATEFORME 10 PAGE 16

n°5 — october 2019 a new arts district — lausanne … · 2019-10-23 · and its imaginary...

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