Alain Douillard "Le Forgeron du Fer"

Magen H. Gallery

poster for Alain Douillard "Le Forgeron du Fer"

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Magen H. Gallery presents Le Forgeron du Fer, the first U.S. retrospective of the French sculptor Alain Douillard. The exhibition features work in sculpture and decorative arts focusing on Douillard’s metal production, from the beginning of the 70s to today, along with jewelry designed between 1961-2004.

Spanning over a forty-year period, Le Forgeron du Fer focuses on Douillard’s most prolific work and features over 60 works in sculpture and decorative arts. Douillard’s approach to both is a visceral experience as opposed to a highly intellectualized process. Entering a space of communion with the work, Douillard gives precedence to the primal aspect of creation while allowing a deeply personal experience to immerge.

Alain Douillard began working with metal in the early 1960s. Incorporating the rough and rigid character of metal pieces such as car frameworks and scrap sheets, Douillard discovered an organic relation between the ragged, and seemingly dissonant elements of these types of metal, and the organic, poetic nature of the material itself. Both aspects, the aesthetic and internal, fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole. Douillard’s sculpture “Les Roseaux” is a pertinent example of both his integrated use of the material and his primary source of inspiration, Nature.

At the end of World War II, Douillard entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Nantes at the age of 14. After graduating, Douillard began working for institutions in and around Nantes, including the renovation of the National Theater and various churches that were destroyed during the war. He subsequently began creating sculptural religious figurines at the request of members of the clergy in the various churches to which he was employed. Through these commissions, Douillard was able to sustain a modest life for himself and his family. Due to the support of the French government, Alain was able to foray into a more abstract, individual expression of his work in sculpture. Like other decorative arts designers of the 1970’s, the use of different forms of metal (Chrome, copper, and inox) became a highly utilized material. For Douillard, his use of metal solidified a distinct departure from any association with institutions or commissions and forged a true path of his unique expression.

Douillard’s work was first presented as part of a collective exhibition in 1963 in Paris, France. His work has been presented in galleries such as Galerie du Fleuve (Bordeaux), Grand Palais (Paris), Maison de France (Berlin), Pavillion Francais (Frankfurt) as well as the United States. Douillard exhibited amongst esteemed artists such as Braques, Picasso, Tloupas Philolaos, Marino di Teana, Alicia Penalba, and Torun at the highly esteemed Galerie Argos in Nantes, France. He’s created commissions for offices of Credit Industriel de l’Ouest (Nantes), Hotel Sofitel, Credit Mutuel, and colleges Louis Pasteur (Saint-Mars-le-Jaille) and, Chateaucoin, (Bauge, France).

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Schedule

from October 22, 2010 to November 12, 2010

Opening Reception on 2010-10-21 from 18:00 to 20:00
RSVP to shayna@susangrantlewin.com

Artist(s)

Alain Douillard

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