| « ...she brings
us the candour and purity of which we have an ever increasing
need…» |
|
Simone Le Moigne, painter
and poetesse
Exhibition 4th May – 4th July 2004
The International Museum of Naïve Art
is pleased to inaugurate a space reserved for a series of personal
exhibitions by selected artists, with the engaging and remarkable
work of a painter from the museum collection: Simone Le Moigne.
Born in the hamlet of Magoar, in the parish
of Glomel, Northern Brittany in 1911, she spent a happy, outdoor
childhood, in the countryside she loved. In 1935, she married
a clog-maker and began decorating and engraving clogs. Twenty
years later, whilst working as a cook in Paris, a paintbox left
lying around by her employer’s son, gave her the urge
to paint...
It was aged 58 and without any artistic knowledge
that she took up painting full time. Through painting, Simone
Le Moigne discovered a hitherto unknown freedom, that of travelling
through time. On the occasion of her first exhibition, in1972,
the journalist, Len, wrote, “she started to paint, one
day, just like that, because she was conscious of the beauty
of the world and had to express it”. From that moment
on she quickly become recognised and well-known throughout the
art world, notably among specialists in Naïve Art, (Anatole
Jakovsky, Max Fourny), as well as admirers of Naïve Art,
on a regional, national and international scale. For over 30
years she showed her work in numerous exhibitions and took part
in many salons in France and abroad, (Paris, Chicago, Morges,
Amsterdam, Lugano, St Helier....)
In her work, Simone Le Moigne relives her
past and lets her imagination wreath her distant memories in
tender, sincere poetry. She is unhampered by rules and theories,
she invents a singular technique and dreams of three-dimensional
painting. Her generous nature has led her to share the riches
of her inheritance in writing as well as painting. ‘Jeux
et bonheurs de mon enfance’ (Games and Joys of my Childhood)
retraces with feeling, the games played by French country children
at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Towards the end of her life, she developed
religious themes, inspired by readings from the New Testament.
When she died in 2001, Simone Le Moigne
left an abundant body of work. Her work lives on through the
dedication of her children and this exhibition pays her tribute.
Bibliography :
Catalogue,
Simone Le Moigne, retrospective exhibition, Hôtel de Ville
St Herblain, (April – June 1987) published by Editions
Ville de St Herblain 1987.
Simone
Le Moigne, Jeux et bonheurs de mon enfance / C'hoari ha
levenez pa oan-me bugel, published by Edition de l'Association
Bretonne de Culture, 1992.
These
books are on sale in our shop...
Originals,
lithographs, reproductions on sale at the Museum. |
