Denis Coutagne
Conservator in chief of the Granet Museum, Aix-en-Provence
Biography
Denis Coutagne, Curator in Chief of the Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence,
was born on 5 March 1947 in Ugine, Savoie, France.
• He studied in Grenoble, Lyon and Paris (Paris IV Sorbonne). The subject
of his university thesis was Abstraction in painting as
a place for reflection on the relationship of art and philosophy in aesthetic
speech (the transition
from figurative to abstract from Cézanne to Mondrian, Kazimir Malevitch
and Wassily Kandinsky in the light of Emmanuel Kant and Friedrich Hegel). He
studied philosophy and art history together, obtaining a master's degree in philosophy
in 1972. In 1974 he passed the recruitment examination for curators of national
museums, and in 1977 was appointed to the post of manager of museums in Besançon,
Doubs. He taught art history (19th and 20th century Painting) at Luminy School
of Architecture, Marseille, from 1993 to 1997.
• Since 1980 he has managed the Granet Museum. His goal has been to complete
the renovation of the museum and open it to 20th century art, to bring international
recognition to François-Marius Granet in the history of art and to make
Aix-en-Provence into a Cézanne centre.
The renovation of the museum will be completed in 2005. The exhibition space
has been increased from 1,000 to 4,000 square meters, and a scientific study
of all the collections has been undertaken, culminating in a reference document
called "The Scientific and Cultural Program of the Granet Museum".
This restructuring has demanded strong collaboration between the institutions
in charge of the museum, the contracting authority (delegate authority, SEMEPA)
and the prime contractors (architects Pierre Brotons and Jean-François
Bodin).
The Granet Museum has been the site of three major exhibitions:
• 1984: François-Marius Granet, the watercolorist of Paris and
Versailles
• 1988: François-Marius Granet, the painter of Provence
• 1972: François-Marius Granet, the painter of Rome
The Granet Museum has acquired paintings by Maurice Estève, André Masson, Karl Hartung, and works from the collection From Cézanne to Giacometti (including Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Bram van Velde, Paul Klee, Fernand Léger and Paul Cézanne).
The Granet Museum has been directly responsible for organizing four Cézanne exhibitions:
• 1982: Cézanne (a twin exhibition with Liège, Belgium)
• 1984: Eight paintings by Paul Cézanne placed by the State in the
museum of Aix
• 1990: Cézanne-Sainte-Victoire international exhibition
• 2000: Cézanne au fil de l’eau exhibition
And two major Cézanne events:
• 1996: Rewald-Cézanne international symposium at the Granet Museum
• 1998: Creation of the Paul Cézanne Society
Publications:
Personal publications:
Cézanne, Critérion, 1989
Cézanne en Provence (Cézanne in
Provence) (translated into English
and Japanese), Assouline, 1995
Le musée intérieur de Julien
Green (The interior museum of Julien
Green), Granet Museum, 2000 (published in a series of separate articles in
Impressions du Musée Granet, 1992-1996)
Michel Forat, présentation du peintre et de son œuvre (Michel
Forat, introducing the painter and his work), Granet Museum, 1999
Granet, une vie de peintre (Granet,
a painter's life), Granet Museum, Aix 2004-2005
Fiction: La Mosaïque de Démeter (Demeter's
Mosaic), Critérion
1985
Vestiges de Dieu (God's remains) (to be published)
Publications with personal participation:
Le Roi René en son temps (King
René and his time), Granet Museum,
1981
Cézanne au musée d’Aix (Cézanne
at the museum of Aix) (with Bruno Ely), Granet Museum, 1984
Granet, paysages d’Iles de France (Granet,
Landscapes of Ile de France),
Granet Museum, 1984
Entremont, archéologie celto ligure (circonscription archéologique
d'Aix) (Entremont, Celto-Ligurian Archeology – Aix archeological
district),
Granet Museum, 1988
Cézanne peintre de Rome (Cézanne, the painter
of Rome) (with
Isabelle Neto), AAMG, 1992
Les sites cézanniens du Pays d’Aix (Cézanne
Sites of the Aix Region) (with Bruno Ely), RMN, 1996
Guide des collections du Musée Granet, présentation de 100 chefs-d'œuvre
(Guide to the Granet Museum collections, an introduction
to 100 masterpieces)
(with Bernard Terlay, Bruno Ely and Sylvie Menant), 1999
Atelier Cézanne (Cézanne's Studio) (Paul Cézanne Society),
Aix, 2002.
Jas de Bouffan Cézanne (Paul Cézanne Society), Aix, 2004
Jean Marie Sorgues, présentation du peintre et de son œuvre (Jean
Marie Sorgues, an introduction to the painter and his work) (with Bruno Ely)
Granet Museum, 2003
Exhibition catalogues
Mondzain, Sorgues, Aubrun, Lechenier, Ecole Marchutz, Forat…
Preface to the book Sculpture by Alexandre Maral, introducing the collections
of the Granet Museum, 2001
Responsible for the magazine of the Friends of the Granet Museum Impressions
du musée Granet (10 issues published to date including historic issues
on the history of the museum and its renovation)
Numerous talks in France and abroad (François-Marius Granet, Paul Cézanne, Julien Green)
# # #
