Eugène Leroy. À contre-jour

28.04.2022 - 02.10.2022

Eugène Leroy. À contre-jour

From 28 April to 2 October 2022, the MUba Eugène Leroy presents Eugène Leroy. À contre-jour, an exhibition labelled of national interest by the Ministry of Culture. Celebrating the artist born in Tourcoing (1910-2000), the exhibition explores two complementary approaches: one places him in the artistic landscape of the 20th century, the other questions his contemporaneity in the face of today's creations. This exhibition seeks to shed light on the artist in an unexpected way, revealing him in an unprecedented way, in the manner of counter-illumination, a principle particularly prized by Leroy.

After the Leroy donation in 2009, the exhibitions Eugène Leroy. Centenary Exhibition (2010) and Georg Baselitz-Eugène Leroy. Narrative and Condensation (2013), the museum is asserting itself through this event as the place of reference on the artist, on a regional, national and international scale.

One exhibition, two approaches

The first part of the exhibition explores Eugène Leroy's encounters, friendships and support in the cultural and artistic milieu of the North in the 1960s, one of the most dynamic European scenes of the post-war period. It is thanks to and with this rich network of artists, gallery owners, museum curators, collectors and patrons that the painter built his own singular and fascinating career. Far from being an artist recluse in his Wasquehal studio before achieving international fame in the 1980s, Leroy observed, exhibited, and was nourished by his exchanges with the exceptional personalities featured in the exhibition. Eugène Leroy rubbed shoulders with the artists Eugène Dodeigne and Germaine Richier, the gallery owners Léon Renar and Marcel Evrard, the curator of the Tourcoing museum Jacques Bornibus, who distributed his work, and the textile manufacturers Jean Masurel, Philippe Leclercq and Anne and Albert Prouvost, who collected his work.

Artists exhibited:

Pierre-Yves Bohm, Camille Bryen, Bernard Buffet, André Copin, Robert Delporte, Roel D'Haese, Eugène Dodeigne, Jacques Dodin, James Ensor, Paul Hémery, Pierre Hennebelle, Robert Jacobsen, Ladislas Kijno, André Lanskoy, Henri Laurens, Eugène Leroy, Maurice Maes, Alfred Manessier, Alicia Penalba, Serge Poliakoff, Germaine Richier, Marc Ronet, Georges Rouault, Jean Roulland, Arthur Van Hecke

Curator: Germain Hirselj, art historian, Mélanie Lerat, Director, and Christelle Manfredi, Deputy Director of the MUba Eugène Leroy.

In the nave of the museum, the second part of the exhibition freely explores the real and imaginary links between Eugène Leroy's work and the contemporary art scene, around the theme of man's link with nature, the feeling of time and the cycle of the seasons, and a reflection on colour and light, which are so present in his plastic creation. In a thematic and formal dialogue, some fifteen artists question the radicality and contemporaneity of the Seasons (1993-1994), two sets of exceptional paintings (LaM, Villeneuve d'Ascq) by Eugène Leroy at the age of 83. The sculptures, paintings, textile works, installations, photographs and videos, surprise and offer counterpoints to the work of this prolific artist, as unclassifiable as he is universal.

Artists exhibited:

Caroline Achaintre, Davide Balula, Marc Bour, Marina Bourdoncle, Claire Chesnier, Mimosa Eschard, Gloria Friedmann, Hieronymus Galle, Barbara and Michael Leisgen, Bernard Moninot, Eugène Leroy, Sarkis, Xavier Noiret-Thomé, Elsa Tomkowiak, Bernard Plossu, Philémon Vanorlé, Jessica Warboys

Curator: Mélanie Lerat, Director, and Christelle Manfredi, Deputy Director of the MUba Eugène Leroy.

An exhibition of national interest

Recognised for its quality and innovative character, this exhibition is recognised as being of national interest by the Ministry of Culture / Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs. As such, it receives exceptional financial support from the State.

Each year, the Ministry of Culture rewards museums in France that put on exhibitions that are remarkable for their scientific and museographic quality; specific and innovative mediation and communication actions aimed at broadening and diversifying the public; the national interest of the project in terms of its importance, originality and the partnerships developed.

The exhibition is designed in partnership with the Musée d'art moderne de Paris, which is organising a major retrospective of Eugène Leroy from 15 April to 28 August 2022. It is also part of the programme of Utopia, the sixth major thematic edition of lille3000, from 14 May to 2 October 2022, in the European Metropolis of Lille, the Eurometropolis and the Hauts-de-France region.