Dodeigne in Paris: an exhibition for a centenary
The Galerie Christophe Gaillard chose 2023 as the year when it would showcase the works of the sculptor Eugène Dodeigne for the first time. The exhibition marks a centenary: a hundred years since Eugène Dodeigne was born in Rouvreux, a quarrying village in Belgium’s Walloon province of Liège. Dodeige went on to become a very important sculptor whose works have been exhibited worldwide.
Dodeigne’s own father, a stonecutter, first trained him in his craft – a story like that of so many other famous sculptors, including Antoine Bourdelle, Joseph Bernard, Barbara Hepworth, Roël D'Haese and Agustín Cárdenas. He then honed his skills at Beaux-Arts de Paris – France’s leading school of fine arts – where he acquired a taste for stone, which became his favourite material, and where he deepened his knowledge of it. Dodeigne gained recognition in northern Europe from the 1960s. But he had to wait longer for France to fully acknowledge his true talent. This recalls the narrative of his friend the painter Eugène Leroy, who was only really acclaimed when he had reached the age of eighty. The French capital nevertheless appreciated Dodeigne’s works: exhibitions took place in the Galerie Claude Bernard, the Galerie Pierre Loeb and the Galerie Jeanne Bucher. Other countries took an interest in his oeuvre early on: his sculptures were displayed at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium, in 1957; at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; at the Kunsthalle in Basel, Switzerland; and at the Springer, Zwirner and Brusberg galleries in Germany. As the years went by, his sculptures in Soignies stone – his trademark material – reached the status of monumental works. Dodeigne’s sculpture groups now grace many public places and museum grounds in Europe. For example, they can be admired in Hanover, Germany; in Liège, Belgium; at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands; and in France at the Fondation Septentrion in Marcq-en-Barœul, at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, at the La Piscine Museum in Roubaix, at the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, at the Musée de Grenoble, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne in Vitry-sur-Seine, and even in the Tuileries Garden in central Paris.
The bronze Nu debout has a special place in the artist’s oeuvre. It was made in 1963 and is a token of Dodeigne’s work in modelling as it was originally made of plaster. This transitional piece heralded his work with wax and bronze. It also echoes the languid nudes that Dodeigne painted in parallel. In this bas-relief, he produced an image with depth, where a sensual nude emerges from the material.
Dodeigne’s large charcoal drawings are his other hallmark. They single him out as much as his stone sculptures do. They tell us a lot about how Dodeigne would work when wintry weather would make it difficult for him to cut stone. These drawings were preludes to sculptures. They were born in the excitement of modelling sessions in which Dodeigne would tirelessly sketch with charcoal on 75 x 106 cm sheets of paper. The drawings selected for this exhibition cover the period from 1976 to 1999. They are displayed for the first time. Dodeigne’s strokes are delicate and careful in his drawings from 1976 to 1978. Afterwards, they become more emphatic and natural. These drawings are works of art in their own right as much as they are studies.
In 2020, the La Piscine Museum in Roubaix, France, was due to present a Eugène Dodeigne retrospective. But the Covid pandemic compelled the museum to close its doors. Eventually, the exhibition was able to open: the public finally rediscovered a major artist and an oeuvre that is actually much less monolithic – both literally and figuratively – than we tend to assume. This event gave Dodeigne lasting prestige: that of an artist who was as essential as he was unique in France’s cultural scene in the second half of the twentieth century – and that of a master creator with a rightful place in history’s pantheon of sculptors. This exhibition at the Galerie Christophe Gaillard is a fresh, remarkable testimony to that monumental artistry.
Germain Hirselj