The 19th century still has some great discoveries in store for us, the little-known figure of the painter, sculptor, ceramist and glassmaker Henry Cros is one of them. Thanks to the important collection of drawings by the artist, inventor of glass paste sculpture, the Museum of Decorative Arts is offering from March 6 to May 26, 2024, a monograph by this artist admired by Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle, friend by Paul Verlaine and Édouard Manet. Was he romantic, neo-classical, or symbolist? This is one of the questions posed by the exhibition “Henry Cros, 1840-1907, sculptor and designer”, through more than a hundred works bringing together sculptures, paintings and drawings, from the museum’s collections, alongside some exceptional loans. The artist’s major themes are presented: touching portraits of children, figures from a dreamed Antiquity and fairy tales. The artist’s technical mastery is illustrated by more than fifty drawings and around thirty sculptures in glass, wax, terracotta, bronze and marble. This project allows us to discover the work of Henry Cros, of whom Bourdelle said that he brings together “all of Antiquity in a new soul”.

Henry is the brother of the famous inventor and poet Charles Cros and the doctor Antoine Cros. This famous trio participates in the literary and artistic modernity of the 1860s-1870s. The exhibition addresses the various personalities of the artistic and literary worlds around which the three brothers revolve with portraits drawn by Henry Cros: that – rare – of a young Paul Verlaine autographed, of the caricaturist André Gill, of the publisher of the Parnassien poets Alphonse Lemerre , the actor Coquelin junior and of course the legendary figure of the free and scandalous salonnière Nina de Vilars de Callias, the lover of his brother Charles. Antoine’s collection of poems, illustrated with a print by Henry in 1882, evokes the other brother, a doctor by profession, who also runs a political-literary salon.

The dual practice of painter and sculptor and the contemporary rediscovery of ancient polychrome plastic guide Cros on the path of color sculpture. His monochrome projects remained numerous until 1880, the exhibition presents some in terracotta, marble and bronze including the moving Portrait of a little boy dated 1875. Among the works presented, we discover the vase cast by Hébrard d ‘after the model of the glass vase from the Museum of Decorative Arts. Numerous drawings and sketches for portraits or original photographs are highlighted, such as the preparatory drawing for the bust of Nina de Vilars.

The exhibition unveils a large encaustic painting, Urania (1882), muse of astronomy, an important state commission demonstrating the culmination of Cros’s research. The ancient encaustic paint then used for coloring marbles is one of the sources of his research. His modern portraits, inspired by those modeled during the Renaissance, which marked his contemporaries, remain of rare originality and psychological presence. The portrait of his young wife or that of the astonishing Shah of Persia, Nasse el Din, are examples of this. His compositions close to the poetic universe of the first Renaissance correspond to the great successes of the artist’s beginnings. The exhibition highlights five of them, including La Promenade du Salon of 1874, where we observe the contrast between the precise delicacy of the figures and the freedom of the backgrounds with impressionist touches, whose photographic focus is outstanding.

At the crossroads of his two technical periods, between waxes and glass pastes, Henry Cros creates a few polychrome terracotta busts with colored clays (engobes). He gives life and presence to these young figures, like the gypsy woman from the Pyrenees in the Cité de la Ceramique museum in Sèvres. An example far from his parallel research on the archetypal image of a feminine ideal.

“Glass paste” is the name given by Henry Cros to a new technique of molding polychrome glass powders, which allows him to create colored sculptures and opens a new path in the creation of modern glass. He devoted the last twenty years of his life to this medium, and produced the most significant works of his artistic career. A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to him, with the remarkable watercolor projects, but also the masks, medallions and bas-reliefs, which retrace this period.

The exhibition highlights the two large watercolor projects and the version cast in bronze by Hébrard, as well as the rare glass vase produced by the hand of Henry Cros. Among the works in glass paste, the medallion portrait of young François Coppée, The Nymph Galatea, the mask La Flamme from the Universal Exhibition of 1900 or the cup Le Silence, illustrate the great richness and diversity of the themes addressed by the ‘artist.

This monograph demonstrates the mark left by this unique artist, celebrating a man whose daring creativity and innovative and poetic research have undoubtedly marked the history of 19th century art and particularly a certain history of modern glass.

March 6 – May 26, 2024

MAD

107 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris

The Cluny museum highlights a pivotal moment in history and art history, that of the reign of Charles VII (1422-1461). Driven out of Paris, taking refuge in Bourges, the dauphin Charles succeeded in reconquering his throne, then his kingdom occupied by the English.

From the 1420s, during the Hundred Years’ War, the Kingdom of France experienced profound political and artistic changes. In the north of the kingdom, occupied by the English and the Burgundians, multiple artistic centers emerged. When the dauphin Charles manages to reconquer his throne, thanks in particular to Joan of Arc, and then his kingdom, the conditions for a renewal are met. Major sponsors, like Jacques Cœur, are calling on a new generation of artists. The latter converted to Flemish realism, described as ars nova, in full swing notably with Jan van Eyck, while through Italian influence, they imbued themselves with the ancient heritage developed by artists like Filippo Brunelleschi,

Donatello or Giovanni Bellini. Artistic creation gradually broke with international Gothic and turned towards a new vision of reality, the beginnings of the Renaissance. After a first part of historical contextualization, the exhibition shows the diversity of the arts in the main geographical centers, often associated with great figures of
sponsors. In a third and final section, the route allows an analysis of the specificities of this art in France, between Burgundian and Flemish ars nova, and Italian innovations. An essential chapter is devoted to Provence and the role of René d’Anjou, sponsor and introducer of northern art, evoking, among others, the figure of the artist Barthélemy d’Eyck.

Throughout the visit, the exhibition demonstrates the diversity of artistic production during the reign of Charles VII. It brings together prestigious illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, pieces of goldwork, stained glass and tapestries. Exceptional works appear there, such as the canopy of Charles VII (Louvre Museum), the manuscript of the Grandes Heures de Rohan (Bibliothèque nationale de France) or the painting of the Annunciation of Aix (Aix-en-Provence) by Barthélémy d’Eyck, painter
of Duke René of Anjou who illuminates his Book of Tournaments (National Library of France). For the first time, the Parisian triptych of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ by André d’Ypres is reconstructed in its entirety (Louvre Museum, Getty Museum, Fabre Museum). Finally, an entire section is devoted to Jean Fouquet, one of the greatest French painters of the 15th century. A brilliant illuminator, he is the author of the famous portrait painted on wood of Charles VII (Musée du
Louvre), presented prominently in the exhibition.

March 12 – June 16, 2024

MUSEE CLUNY

28 rue du Sommerard 75005 Paris

Objects found from prehistory to the present day

In 2020, in Clichy-la-Garenne (Paris suburbs), a team of prehistorians from Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) is carrying out a preventive excavation on a plot close to the banks, affected by a real estate program. Under four meters of modern embankments, they discover the history of the ancient bed of the Seine, dated between −85,000 and −25,000 years before our era (Paleolithic). During this period, the river bed is very wide and dotted with sandy banks. The banks are gently sloping and the sand islands allow animals and human groups to cross it in places. The climate is cold and windy, and the landscape, dominated by a steppe of tall grasses, grasses and a few rare shrubs, is roamed by large mammals: reindeer, horses, bison and woolly rhinoceroses.

The river which has shaped Paris from the first human settlements to the present day has received numerous objects that have fallen, thrown away, lost, or moved by the currents. They all bear witness to the history of the Seine, its evolution, its developments and its landscapes, but also its successive populations, their lifestyles, their beliefs or their struggles. Presented chronologically, these discoveries are also an opportunity to explain the scientific methods used in the interpretation and dating of archaeological remains and objects.

The exhibition is structured around four chronological periods and several themes chosen from archaeological discoveries linked to the Seine. Firstly, there are human settlements from prehistoric times, on the banks of the river, then in Antiquity, the time of its first developments. The medieval and modern periods reveal weapons, ex-votos and waste, while the Seine today still provides us with chance finds, such as pieces of bridges. These objects bear witness to the stories of men and women who built their daily lives with the Seine, whether Neanderthal hunters or the pious and superstitious Parisian people.

January 31, 2024 – February 1st, 2025

CRYPTE ARCHEOLOGIQUE DE L’ILE DE LA CITE

7 place Jean Paul II 75004 Paris

01 55 42 50 10

Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.