ART & COLLECTIONS / SAINT-PAUL DE VENCE
The Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation
Born from the friendship of an art dealer and modern painters and sculptors, the Maeght foundation was the first private foundation recognized for its public utility and dedicated to the modern and contemporary art in all its forms.
A family and friendship story
Aimé Maeght was a well-known art dealer, publisher and gallery owner in Paris during the twenty’s century who started as a printer in the south of France. One of his most specular dreams was the Maeght foundation. The foundation is not a museum or an art gallery but is a collective and creative place born from the collaboration between Aimé Maeght, the architect José Luis Sert and modern artists as Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Tal Coat, Alberto Giacometti or Georges Braque. Inaugurated on 28 July 1964 by André Malraux, the foundation was conceived as an artistic village where Aimé and Marguerite Maeght could present modern and contemporary art in all its forms while their artist friends could come there to work and exchange as much as to exhibit. This unique partnership is very inspiring and gave birth to a stimulating place where visitors and artists are fulfilled by dreams and peace.
An architecture for the art integrated with nature
Sert, an avant-garde architect who worked with Le Corbusier, built a light and open « site » mixing internal and exterior spaces. It takes place on a location between sky, Mediterranean sea, and nature. Indeed, José Luis Sert, in a constant and close dialogue with Aimé Maeght and Joan Miro, created harmony between the exhibitions rooms and the garden and offered endless possibilities for circulation and respiration. The spectator moves freely in the foundation, passes throw glass corridors, looks at the sea or the garden, discovers various size pieces, takes steps going down and up, and all surrounded by a natural light. The stone, the brick, and the terra cotta are integrated wonderfully in the Mediterranean nature. Painters and sculptors have collaborated to this project by creating works integrated into the building and in nature such as the Giacometti courtyard, the Miró labyrinth filled with sculptures and ceramics, the mural mosaics of Chagall and Tal Coat, Braque's pool and stained glass window, the Bury fountain. Behind the foundation, the St Bernard's chapel is illuminated by stained-glass windows by Braque and Ubac. The main purpose to expose the artworks in their simple truth is reached.
A foundation built for the creation of our time
Aim Maeght project was to create a place where artists could create and exhibit freely, without gallery’s controls or public expectations. In the seventy’s, the foundation hosted night concerts. Now its annual program is rhythm by temporary exhibitions and few concerts. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that the foundation is not exploiting all the possibilities she can offer. Indeed it could hosts more artistic performances or drawing lessons.
The cutting-edge collaboration with leading artists and an art dealer created a unique « site » full of peace, greenery, and art.
Articles: "Hors série: La Fondation Maeght", Connaissance des Arts, du 5 mai 2014, n°623. Website: www.fondation-maeght.com
Images :
Sculptures garden, Maeght Foundation.
Giacometti yard, Maeght Foundation.
