E-motion - Bernard Massini collection from the 19th of January to the 17th of March 2013

"Beauty as an invitation to the relationship. (...) In every way, beauty takes us out of ourselves by creating a deep emotion in us. E-motion; literally "to come out of oneself" to connect to another." - Georges Haldas.

From the 19th of January to the 17th of March 2013, the Maeght Foundation presents the Bernard Massini collection. Thirty six contemporary artists from Assan Smati to William Wegman are brought together in this exhibition that features paintings, sculptures and drawings, including several large-scale works. The 70 works selected from a collection of 450 each question, in its own way, the trust and doubt that inspire the human being.

Beauty, energy, reaching out to each other, the search for meaning: E-motion

With this word from Swiss writer Georges Haldas (The Sun and the absence, Notebooks 1987, Bibliothèque de l'âge d'homme, 1991) the exhibition title illuminates three major dimensions of the presented works : energy, reaching out to others and knowledge by emotions. The exhibition is divided into ten or so spaces that ask as many questions about sensitivity as they do about human reason: suffering, intimacy, war, desire, anticipation, religion, power, silence, metaphysics.

A look at major works from the contemporary scene

The thirty or so artists presented, new as well as established, are among the most talented on the national and international contemporary scene : Jean-Michel Alberola, Pat Andrea, Ronan Barrot, Vincent Bizien, Jean-Luc Blanc, Louis Cane, Denis Castellas, René Collamarini, George Condo, Vincent Corpet, Marc Desgrandchamps, Helmut Dorner, Stef Driesen, Bernard Dufour, Valérie Favre, Grégory Forstner, Gérard Garouste, Ludger Gerdes, Leon Golub, Markus Hansen, Anton Henning, Philippe Mayaux, Emile Marzé, Ronald Ophuis, Djordje Ozbolt, Gérald Panighi, Stéphane Pencréac'h, Joyce Pensato, François Ribes, Assan Smati, Djamel Tatah, Mitja Tušek, William Wegman, Alun Williams and Gerard Williams, Cristof Yvoré.

A major collection

Bernard Massini is a neurosurgeon from Nice who is fascinated by arithmetic. He defines his artistic career as "experimental". It is self-taught, initially structured by visiting museums and later nurtured by his relationships with the artists. Many of them work in France but Bernard Massini also built close ties with the German and American art scenes which are present in the exhibition.

Focusing on loyalty through confirmed choices, his collection counts 450 works by forty artists who he supports. It conducts a search for meaning related to human existence in its ambivalence. «I am moved by the hidden, profound sense of a work. I love this relationship with complexity, that engages the inside and the outside of things». The collection contains mainly figurative works, all while leaving room for certain forms of abstraction when they explore the questions that are important to Bernard Massini.

The exhibition catalogue is prefaced by Bernard Ceysson, Guitemie Maldonaldo and Olivier Kaeppelin.

Release

The Maeght Foundation is dedicated to art from our era. During the temporary exhibitions, only a part of the permanent collection is on display.