Pont-l’Évêque —

To launch its cultural season, the City invites the public to admire the Sculptures of Marine de Soos and the exhibition Un cœur simple, on view free of charge until September 26.

“What a joy to see you this late afternoon, for the opening of two exhibitions that are dear to us, at the moment when the summer season begins,” declared Mayor Yves Deshayes on Saturday evening.

“A first exhibition that you can discover in the garden of the town hall features the sculptures of Marine de Soos—majestic and highly poetic works that blend perfectly into this garden. Then, as part of the bicentenary of Gustave Flaubert, the team at Les Dominicaines imagined an exhibition around his short story Un cœur simple, immersing you in the universe of the episcopal town in the 1830s. This exhibition takes place in the neighboring house at 60, rue Saint-Michel. These two exhibitions coincide with the opening of the summer, certainly, but above all they mark the reopening of cultural sites after periods of lockdown… and that is priceless.”

Pierre Carrel, Deputy Mayor for Culture, then took the floor to present the artist’s works. “Her sculptures are in bronze. How can one, with such a hard material, convey softness and poetry? Through her sculpture, she knows how to approach poetry, emotion, and to see the invisible. Whether her models come from Africa or the Orient, they are immediately familiar to us and feel close. She expresses the beauty of life and of the world,” he exclaims admiringly, adding: “her sculptures are essential, poetic, and universal; Marine brings us back to the heart of that happiness we have forgotten.”

Five soothing works can be seen in the heart of the town hall garden and one on the forecourt of the Les Dominicaines cultural center.
Un cœur simple: conte et décor, the second exhibition, is an opportunity “to recall the close, familial, and intimate relationships that the writer maintained with the town of Pont-l’Évêque.” It is presented in the 17th-century half-timbered house adjoining the town hall. It was created by Gaëtane Barbenchon, head of the Les Dominicaines cultural space, and Pierre Carrel, in partnership with Emmaüs Pont-l’Évêque. “Visitors will be able to imagine themselves in Madame Aubin’s living room or in Félicité’s kitchen.” And within the house’s environment, a reading is offered through an abecedary.

Until September 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in the town hall garden and the neighboring house at 60, rue Saint-Michel. Free admission.

Marine de Soos exhibits her poetic bronze sculptures in the town hall garden.

Until September 26, Les Dominicaines invite visitors to discover the artist’s soothing universe in the town hall gardens.

The cultural season of the episcopal town continues its momentum: in addition to the exhibition of contemporary works by David Hockney, the Les Dominicaines Cultural Center is presenting, until September 26, an installation of six artworks within the plant-filled setting of the town hall gardens and in front of its own buildings. Welcomed on Saturday by elected officials and the coordinators of Les Dominicaines, Marine de Soos presented her work imbued with humanity.

Emotion as inspiration
Parisian by birth, Marine de Soos spent part of her childhood in Africa. “The emotions one can feel on the African continent are strong, and starting from a more classical approach, I later evolved toward things that moved me in my childhood,” Marine de Soos explains aside. “Then I was fortunate to travel a great deal and once again encountered all these scenes that move me; I would say that the work that inhabits me comes back through all these mixed emotions and then follows its own path.”
While some works depict real scenes, most partake of the “emotion” the artist seeks. “It’s like an eye that captures something at a given moment and extracts it; it’s something that inhabits me, that I want to transcribe.”

The technique of realization
Speaking of her sculptural practice, Marine de Soos emphasizes that she always works in bronze, but first uses working materials such as “clay or wax applied to an armature that I make before a series of successive stages with elastomer molds, followed by the stages of the lost-wax process before the reuse of the wax for other steps.”
In response to the remark about the smile that adorns each face, the artist says she wants “to share, to bring a little serenity.” A powerful symbol in a time when it has been sorely missed, hidden behind masks.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Exhibition on view until 09/26/2021, daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the town hall gardens. Free access.