« Mes créations ne sont pas faites pour être vues. À un certain degré de dignité, l'émotion néglige la communication et demande la solitude. Elle fuit le regard ou l'approche des autres ; leur appréciation, leur mépris ou leur éloge sont des intrus qui perturbent et malmènent les rouages, la genèse, la perception, l'inquiétude délicate du mental. »
Bernard Réquichot, « Journal »
As part of a series of shows dedicated to the Daniel Cordier collection, Galerie Christophe Gaillard is pleased to present its first Bernard Réquichot (1929–1961) exhibition.
The gallery has chosen to show around 30 of the artist's pieces, particularly his lettres illisibles, the last remnants of the research he was conducting at the time of his tragic death, which occurred just 48 hours before the preview of his second individual exhibition at Galerie Daniel Cordier.
Bernard Réquichot’s work moved through different stages at lightning speed, from religious drawings to the series of large Spirales or Papiers Choisis, to his famous Reliquaires, large wooden boxes filled with various materials (bones, paint, knives, pieces of wood, etc.). Réquichot loved to use the objects around him in his workshop or nearby stores, such as knives, brushes and even polystyrene curtain rings found in the Printemps or BHV department stores with his friends Yolande Fièvre and Dado, two artists also supported by Daniel Cordier.
Bernard Réquichot’s work is housed in the following collections: the MNAM-Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Antoine de Galbert Foundation in Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix in Sables d’Olonne and the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Saint-Étienne Métropole. In recent years, he has also been the subject of individual exhibitions at Galerie Alain Margaron and Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris.
The MNAM-Centre Georges Pompidou is organising his first solo exhibition in 2024, from 3 April to 2 September (curated by Christian Briend).