A Parisian Affair: The Art of Andre Renoux
May 22– Sep­tem­ber 23, 2012
Photos: Douglas J. Nes­bitt
www.douglasjnesbitt.com

Ever fancy a trip to Paris? Come to the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculp­ture Gar­dens and expe­ri­ence “A Parisian Affair: The Art of Andre Renoux” for instant grat­i­fi­ca­tion!  There’s much more depth to the “City of Light” than images of famil­iar Paris tourist icons would indi­cate.    Let Renoux’s art intro­duce you to the REAL Paris com­plete with tex­tures, sounds, smells, and tastes which rep­re­sent the essence of the city.  Think of Andre Renoux as your tour guide to “off-the beaten path” spots that local Parisians love and cherish. 

Andre Renoux (1939 – 2002) is best known as the father of the Urban Real­ist move­ment in France.  The “Real­ist Move­ment” often refers to art that depicts every­day scenes and objects in a frank, true-to-life man­ner; Renoux did this to per­fec­tion using Paris as his back­drop.  He cap­tured the charm of Paris by doc­u­ment­ing its cityscapes since the 1960s.  His focus was not on its grand archi­tec­tural mon­u­ments but on the more inti­mate land­marks of daily Parisian life and its envi­rons, such as a glimpse into a pri­vate court­yard, the del­i­ca­cies for sale in a shop– front dis­play, and the table set­ting in an out-of-the-way bistro.  As a con­tem­po­rary painter, his work has helped doc­u­ment the Paris of the 20th cen­tury by pre­serv­ing the details of its soul. 

Renoux’s art edu­ca­tion includes stud­ies at L’Ecole des Arts Déco­rat­ifs in Nice and L’Ecole des Arts Mod­ernes in Paris. Hon­ored within his life­time, Renoux’s award-winning work has been exhib­ited around the world and through­out the United States.  He is con­sid­ered a French national trea­sure, and his work has been pur­chased to rep­re­sent such quin­tes­sen­tial insti­tu­tions as the French Min­istry of Tourism and the French National Railway. 

The Albin Polasek Museum & Sculp­ture Gar­dens is pleased to bring you a selec­tion of Renoux’s orig­i­nal oil paint­ings, lith­o­graphs, and hand-painted wine bot­tles from the Sebas­t­ian Col­lec­tion. You’ll learn about the lith­o­g­ra­phy process with an inter­ac­tive dis­play expos­ing its com­plex lay­ers.  Vis­i­tors will also be encour­aged to try their hand at sketch­ing a still-life scene from one of Renoux’s paint­ings.  We invite you to stroll through the gallery and take in the history-drenched streets; feel like an artist and sketch to your heart’s con­tent; and soak in Paris like one savors a glass of red wine.  Let “A Parisian Affair: The Art of Andre Renoux” be your pass­port to the exclu­sive side of Paris.