Armel Beaufils, le Regard des femmes

‘Armel Beaufils: Eaufils Le Regard des Femmes’, Galerie du presbytere, Saint-Briac sur Mer, FRAC Bretagne, France. Curated by Sharon Kivland.

Dear Anne-Marie,
Armel Beaufils (1882–1952) followed evening classes at the Rennes Ếcole des Beaux- Arts, then attended the school full-time from 1902 to 1905, entering the Ếcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. On leaving art school he began to show his work at the Salon des artistes français, exhibiting there every year until 1951. He settled in Saint-Briac, with his partner Susanne Duvivier, also a sculptor, who worked under the name of Zannic Beaufils. While the works are evidence of the formal academic training of the artist, following the conventions of realism, symbolism, and idealism, working from the model, from life, or from photographs, they demonstrate care and affection for their subjects, as well as an attachment to place.

To this end, the figures /statues / portrait busts of women and girls produced over the long career of Beaufils will be taken out of storage, from individual displays and archives. There will only be the plaster casts or moulages; the models for works to be realised in more enduring material form, in marble or stone or bronze. These are copies and at the same time, may be originals, as a carved block of plaster is still referred to as a cast. There is a move from positive to negative to positive impression. The models exist and are yet-to-be. They are mutable forms. Assembled together, these feminine forms, gestures, and attitudes are presented in a lovely arrangement, on plinths painted in the palest of pinks, greeting and confronting the visitors to each gallery space. The arrangement is uniform, allowing circulation for visitors. Each female figure is the partner (shall we say) of another woman, casting a look at the past through and in the present. A corresponding number of women artists are invited to respond to one of the works. The resulting correspondence, in whatever form – and yes, it is like a letter or a conversation between women as much as between artists (to which is added the viewer who enters; one may think of it as an exchange of observation) – is produced as cartels mounted on the wall, simultaneously forming a guide to these works by Beaufils and a commentary thereon, while appearing as works in and of themselves. Each plinth is numbered to correspond to its panel.

I think often of the small statues collected by Freud, aligned on his desk – at the end of his working day, it must have been a pleasure to meet their eyes. In Armel Beaufils : Le regard des femmes I imagine encounters that allow many readings and multiple points of departure, between artist and artist, between object and subject, between viewer and artist/s, between viewer and work/s, between viewers. It is, one might say, a body of work.

Sharon Kivland.

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Du 1er juillet au 3 septembre 2017, dans le cadre du Festival d’art, la commune de Saint-Briac révèle l’œuvre du sculpteur Armel Beaufils avec une exposition conçue par l’artiste Sharon Kivland.

Depuis 2010, Saint-Briac-sur-Mer et le Frac Bretagne partagent un projet qui favorise la rencontre avec l’art contemporain. En harmonie, les artistes invités chaque été ont choisi de développer un travail qui s’inspire des caractéristiques et des nombreux atouts de la commune, allant à la rencontre des habitants et des estivants, des paysages, du patrimoine et de l’histoire des lieux.
Cet été, Sharon Kivland démultiplie cet effet en invitant quarante artistes, femmes de Bretagne et d’ailleurs, à engager une correspondance avec le sculpteur Armel Beaufils (1882-1952) dont Saint-Briac détient un fonds d’œuvres et d’études important légué en 1976 par sa veuve Zannic. À côté de sa statuaire commémorative, Armel Beaufils évoque des figures de femmes et de jeunes filles lors de scènes de plage ou de pêche à pied, que son art du modelage imprègne de délicatesse et d’un réel sens du détail. Aujourd’hui, ces sculptures et statuettes sont le point de départ de nouvelles créations déployées au Presbytère de Saint-Briac et dans le livre publié à l’occasion de cette exposition.
Ce dialogue artistique inédit est rendu possible par l’implication de la commune de Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, de la commission du Festival d’art, et par le généreux prêt du musée de Bretagne ainsi que les artistes.

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