Le Touquet–Paris-Plage

Until January 3 at Galerie Emeraude
The “Path” of Marine de Soos

The exhibition currently presented at Galerie Emeraude is a “women’s affair”! First of all, Guylaine Fry, a woman of character, who has “set down her suitcases in Le Touquet” since 1989 and who, in 2004, after a few twists and turns, took over an old warehouse and turned it into a contemporary art gallery, remarkable for its layout and marked by the owner’s perfectionist taste in showcasing the works of the artists who place their trust in her—and who are unanimous in emphasizing her steadfast love of the arts and of artists. We must also not forget the role of Estelle Lebas, who loves and knows how to speak about artists and their works, and who readily communicates her love of beautiful things, knowing how to describe them, to relate them to the personalities of their creators, and to offer her interpretation of their approach. This allows newcomers, beyond the emotional shock, to understand what provokes their first reactions!

Then, from October 23, 2010, to January 3, 2011, the gallery presents works that must absolutely be discovered by Marine de Soos, a remarkable sculptor, in her artistic approach, in the symbolism of the chosen themes, and in the technique of her bronzes (beginnings in clay or wax), original works (limited to 12 pieces but slightly different through their assembly, necessarily unique).

In mixed exhibitions bringing together paintings and sculptures, critics tend to favor paintings, and it is fitting to restore this major art to its rightful place—an art that, in our opinion, is unjustly neglected. One may recall the words of Olivier Delahaye, French producer, director, and novelist: “Sculpture, like all the arts, is a royal path to understanding the world and uncovering its secrets.” One still has to know how to decipher it.

Marine de Soos offers us her “path,” in an esoteric approach, and many of her works evoke “the fragile impassibility of traditional civilizations, the suspension of time. Her art thus draws from the sources of geography and history. Whether she is inspired by the beautiful figures of wisdom from Africa and Indonesia, women with ancestral gestures and queenly bearing, the sacred cows of India, or dreamlike caravans, this artist makes palpable the reminiscence of distant emotions, where symbolism and majesty abound.”

In short, she draws us into her world, and the titles chosen for the statues are evocative: Barque d’une rive à l’autre (Egypt?); Femme au poisson; Au fil des Sables (Bedouin and camel); Petite maison des thés (Jacob’s ladder?); Arbres aux enfants; Voile d’enfance; and female nudes resembling the artist’s own physique, elegant and slender, in movement and perfect balance like all her works (and the creator herself?), but above all that very beautiful small statue with a kite, the child seeming to remain upright thanks to the fragile toy.

Also to be mentioned is Le livre de Ganesh, a small figure reading a book in front of an elephant, when one knows that Ganesh, the Indian god, is the god who removes the obstacles of illusion and ignorance! “When I sculpt, I physically feel what I am doing,” the artist tells us—and in a single sentence, she has said it all.

The other protagonist of this approach is the painter Hanna Sidorowicz, born in Poland, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and of the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Her work on paper—meticulous drawing executed with pen and enhanced with gouache—offers us a timeless painting, a highly “intellectualized” universe, with architectural themes, round paintings that are half-chivalric, half-scenes of the Passion, and libraries. She is above all a profoundly human artist who seeks to share knowledge through history and religion—a kind of “pictorial philosophy,” in a way!

Didier MESSIAEN