Dutch artist Jan Dibbets, known for his photographic works since the 1960s, is the curator of a new exhibition at the BNF (not far from our hotels) where he explores the extroardinarily modern drawings of Raban Maur, a 9th century monk!

An exhibition comparing medieval and contemporary art might sound a little strange, but just one look at the intricate 9th century drawings by Raban Maur brings to light geometric forms and a certain minimalism that have obvious links to the modern day.

The monk’s drawings are filled with letters that form poems, structured around a cross-like matrix, and although Maur’s work did not directly inspire modern artists (as his images were only discovered a decade ago), there are numerous parallels between contemporary art (colour, proportions, perspective…) that the exhibition shows through the juxtaposition with around ten modern artists.

A catalogue of the exhibition is available if you want to delve further into the subject (112 pages, 60 illustrations, 39€ heer at amazon.fr).

And if you’re wonder where the title comes from, it’s a reference to a collection of essays by Ezra Pound, published in 1934, where the writer ‘reactualises’ the literary and poetic qualities of medieval literature from a modern point of view.

The exhibition Make it new. Conversations avec l’art médiéval – carte blanche à Jan Dibbets is at the BNF (here) from 6th November 2018 – 10th February 2019

Open Tuesday-Saturday 9am-7pm and Sundays from 1-7pm. Closed Mondays and public holidays

Admission: 9€ / 7€

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

 

View this post on Instagram

 

“La Plante et ses Applications Ornementales”, sous la direction de M. Eugène Grasset, 1896 Artiste touche-à-tout et pionner de l’Art nouveau, Eugène Grasset (1845-1917) est l’auteur d’affiches publicitaires et de livres illustrés. Retrouvez ce document sur Gallica : https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10546212d/f82.item #ArtNouveau #plantes #fleurs #artdeco #estampe #végétal#Gallica #BnF #ArtsGraphiques #Art #pretty

A post shared by Bibliothèque nationale France (@labnf) on Oct 24, 2018 at 2:54am PDT