At the beginning of the 20th century, works that differed from what we were used to see and that could not be classified in any of the mainstream art movements of the time were grouped together under the term Abstraction. Abstract art was born.

This artistic movement took shape and developed throughout the century and continues to evolve at the beginning of the 21st century. But it is clear that this movement, which only found its name in the West in the 20th century, began much earlier on a human scale, and artists in other civilizations used this mode of expression long before: how to express something, how to express oneself about something without formally representing it ? That’s the whole point.

Abstract art is not opposed to reality, but helps us to understand better the world, using an universal visual language to communicate. This movement has kept its freshness and continues to question and renew itself.

This year’s Abstraction group of the Salon d’Automne presents 95 works representative of the major currents in abstract painting, from lyrical abstraction to abstract expressionism and geometric abstraction. But also works that can’t be clearly assigned to a particular movement and are probably the avant-garde of new trends. Monumental formats, which make it easier to immerse oneself in the work, are also featured in the Abstraction group.

Our warmest thanks go to all the artists who make up this group, for the quality of their work and their unfailing participation in this great event sharing and meeting between artists and a large, enthusiastic public.
(translated by Louise Gaumé)

BOROWSKI

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LÉVÊQUE (JCLEV)
Head of Abstraction group

Translated by Louise Gaumé

The real strength of the self-taught artist, and of the naive artist at that, is that he knows how to disregard his professional world. Whether he’s a pastry chef, a teacher, a hairdresser or an office worker, he demonstrates an unexpected rebelliousness and freedom that gives rise to colorful, joyful works that are sometimes in total contradiction with the monotony and enslavement of his professional condition.

And can we really speak of enslavement? Doesn’t the naive artist find his true source of inspiration in his profession? Doesn’t he simply cease to be the obedient employee, manager or worker, and retain only his rigor, his “savoir faire”, the skills specific to his craft that enable him to become a creator?

No matter how much certain supposedly intellectual but ultimately conformist and often acerbic detractors of “Sunday painters” dislike them, the marvellous works of the twenty-eight naive artists on the walls of the Art naïf group once again this year provide dazzling proof that the artist’s work is compatible with a happy or unhappy professional past or present.

CLAUDINE LOQUEN
President of the Naive Art section

For the past two years, the Chromatics group of the Salon d’Automne has appeared as a must-attend event for contemporary art lovers and color enthusiasts. In 2024, as president of this section, I am honored to present an exceptional selection of artists who are constantly pushing back the boundaries of chromatic creativity.

This year, our group hosts 35 artists whose commitment to the mastery of color is second to none. Together, we are pursuing a common goal: the creation of a new pictorial movement, “Chromatism”. This movement is characterized by bold compositions, a subtle mastery of nuance and a touch of creative madness that unites our artists under one banner.

The selection of artists exhibited in the Chromatics group is a rigorous process, where each talent is chosen for its ability to explore and express the richness of the chromatic palette. We are always looking for new talent, especially young artists, to breathe new, dynamic energy into our group. My ambition is to make this section an explosive platform for innovation and experimentation.

This year, we’re a close-knit, homogeneous group, with one thing in common: an all-consuming passion for color. Our mission is to offer the public an intense and unforgettable visual experience, where each work dialogues harmoniously with the others, creating a captivating and inspiring chromatic symphony.

I warmly thank each artist for his or her contribution and dedication, and the Salon d’Automne for its unfailing support. Together, we’re making Chromatics a space where color reigns supreme, a meeting place for creative minds and a catalyst for artistic innovation. I invite you to dive into this world of nuance and contrast, and join us in celebrating the beauty and power of color at Salon d’Automne 2024.

MICHÈLE ANSERMET PAPADOPOULOS
Head of Chromatics group

Translated by Louise Gaumé

In the world of art, the exploration of emotions and individuality is a common quest that transcend styles and movements. It’s in that specific spirit that we have the pleasure to introduce you to this Expression Libre and expressionnists artists group.

Born at the beginning of the 20th century, Expressionism is defined by a will from the artists to pass on profound emotions through vivid colors and audacious forms, putting the human feelings in the center of the works of art, often charged with tension and passion.

In parallel, the Expression Libre manifests via an unrestrained creativity approach. Artists who share this approach free themselves from conventions, exploring various techniques and personal themes
to the point to sometimes ignore established norms.

During this 121st edition of the Salon d’Automne, the public is invited to discover this brilliant group, those works of art revealing common connections in their pursuit of authenticity and emotion, and those artists united around the same passion despite different techniques and inspiration!

Together, let’s dive into this vibrant universe where art becomes a mirror of our deepest emotions.

VICTOR SASPORTAS
Head of « Expression libre » group

“My business is to paint what I see, not what I know is there.”
J.M.W. Turner

Is painting really today a courageous act, affirming our refusal to submit to the sirens of one-track thinking, who for over a century, have believed they could declare the clinical death of figuration? Figuration has never been so alive.

Once again this year, the artists in the Figuration group are proving this by the diversity of their sensibilities, approaches and talents.

Please come and join us to discover the diversity of their views and compositions, which have a common denominator: painting reality by observing the world around us.

DIDIER THIRION
Head of Figuration group

Through their creative power, the artists in this group write on a blank page their fear, their enthusiasm and their passion, all of which are reflected in their work.

Allegorical or, on the contrary, extremely crude, the paintings that denounce are not so numerous… this group has selected a few.

Here, the artist renounces the position of spectator of the world and puts his art at the service of a cause.

STEFAN BEIU
Head of « Héritage & innovation » group

Translated by Louise Gaumé

It’s like the sound of footsteps approaching, a telephone ringing in the night, a light switching back on. It’s the Imaginary knocking at the door.

It’s the dog in Dali’s painting, dozing beneath the surface of the sea bordered by the cliffs of Port Lligat, suddenly emerging from his dream. Awakened by a burning giraffe flying like a plane overhead. The time has come for soft watches of the master’s moustaches.

The group is also a return to an hyper-realistic academicism, revisiting the old masters in its own way.

Rimbaud put color on verbs and words, turning them into paint. Men and women come and go.The Lascaux paintings are still there.

MICHEL DANKNER
Head of Imaginaires group

Translated by Louise Gaumé

In his Notebooks published in 1952, The Day and the Night,
Georges Braque wrote: “There is only one thing in art that is worthwhile: the one that can’t be explained.”

Artists of the Synthesis group seem to have in common the capacity to touch us with poetry…
Figuration, abstraction, whatever.
This ‘Synthesis’ is that of the different sensitive currents exhibited at the Salon d’Automne.

A hanging in musical rhythm creates a dialogue between works of art, alternating accents and calms.
Expressing silences, forms or colours or simply suggesting, making the heart beats differently… (Translated by Camille Cozic)

CATHERINE SÉVÉRAC
Head of Synthèse group

The Variations group is a pretty special one within the Salon d’Automne.

All the other sections of the Salon d’Automne have in common an “inner specific pictural approach”, for example Abstraction, Figuration, Synthèse, etc. Here it is not a common path that unites the artists of the Variation group but a “quest of split tracks”, different but always sincere and honest.

Are we, the artists, not all inhabited by a deep inside energy that shaped our own personality ? Driving itself to express the inner part of ourselves up to materiality as on canvas, paper, stone, earth, etc, giving birth to an art work ?
In opposition to the finite nature of our lives, here come the struggle of an artist with his “inside angel” made of wanderings, wavering hesitancy: moving forward and backward, up to the deliverance of the pregnancy of that art work.

Here is the itinerary of a member of the Variation group in its diversity.

ROBERT MAUREL
Head of Variations group

I’ve been a sculptor for 50 years, and I’m an advocate of this artistic discipline, which contributes to the embellishment of public and private spaces. Unlike painting, you can caress the work and feel a real emotion in contact with it.

Sculpture gives blind people access to art. I have a moving memory of the experience I shared with Gilbert Montagné when, touching one of my sculptures, he said to me: “It’s a giant man”. Indeed, it was a sumo wrestler.

This fantastic contact with clay, bronze, stone, wood, plaster or other materials, whether you’re a sculptor or an art lover, is something to dream about.

70 sculptors invite you to share these emotions.

FRANÇOISE FRUGIER
Head of Sculpture section

We can not separate Architecture from the construction of our towns and cities: it is their face. But what happens when this art of building is at the service of Creation itself, a display for arts? From the sumptuous palaces that housed the first museum collections to the famous Villa Medici, an artists’ residence, architecture has always played a major role in artistic creation.

This year, the Architecture section of the Salon d’Automne presents the work of Italian artist Virna Brunetto. Through the design of Triangle, she offers us an inclusive multi-purpose building: her Temple of the Arts.

The artist has shown an interest in multidisciplinarity, exhibiting works both in Photography and Print sections previously at the Salon d’Automne. This aspect is also reflected in the project presented this year : a triangular construction housing communal spaces on three levels “where each person could become fully involved in art” (V. Brunetto). This inclusive space, with its two large triangular roofs, lets the light in through two large cubes/skylights, reminiscent of the large windows in the old artists’ studios. In the center, a large nave invites us to meditation, inspiration and performance. A place of artistic symbiosis, made possible by an innovative structure surrounded by greenery and ponds.
Conceived as a utopian space that emphasises the collective, this proposal responds to the timeless and universal need for a plural Art, in an elegant, uncluttered aesthetic that is open to the world.

Josselin Fontan
UPEC student

Louise Gaumé
École du Louvre student

Translated by Louise Gaumé

Printmaking, although traditionally perceived as an ancient art form, remains a major art form that continues to have a significant influence on contemporary art.

As a versatile medium, its many techniques and applications allow artists a multitude of possibilities to express their vision.

Engraving artists use traditional techniques (xylography, intaglio or etching) and incorporate othermediums: collage, painting, digital printing, to produce original works.

Technological advances are pushing back the limits of traditional engraving and open up new possibilities for artistic expression.

The works of printmakers exhibited at the Salon d’Automne give a glimpse into the creative world of contemporary printmaking, an art in perpetual evolution. (Translated by Louise Gaumé)

JEAN-PIERRE TANGUY
Head of the Engraving section

Since the Drawing section expanded its artistic scope to watercolor painting in 2022, each new edition celebrates the combination of individual expressions and intimate visions, creating a dynamic pictorial composition rich in diversity and fraternity, values dear to the artists’ society of the Salon d’Automne.

With the precise or diffuse strokes of the pencil, the deep shadows of charcoal, the powdery softness of pastel, the unmatched fluidity of ink, the subtle transparency of watercolor, and the vibrant colors of acrylic or gouache, a unique and singular harmony is played out on the walls of the Section, to the rhythm of powerful chords.

Art is a visual symphony that transcends eras and borders. It is pure melody.

A universal language that captures the essence of the world and the human soul, transforming the mundane into the sublime and the fleeting into the eternal, art composes, gathers, and unites.

“To accomplish itself, it must work where all are one. And when it gives this one away, then a boundless wealth comes to all.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Notes on the melody of things.

VÉRONIQUE ALMARINE & ANTOINE AIZIER

Contemporary photography covers a variety of themes, reflecting the complexity of the modern world. The themes addressed are diverse: identity and gender, environment and nature, climate change, urbanization and architecture, politics and society, abstraction and experimentation, the body and portraiture, intimacy and everyday life.

These themes often resonate with one another, and photographers take personal approaches to them, overcoming technical constraints to produce singular works.

The photography section of the Salon d’Automne brings together the richness and diversity of today’s photographic practice.

CHRISTINE LEEPINLAUSKY & ANNE ROULANT
Heads of the Photography section

The section dedicated to Environmental Art presents itself as a laboratory of ideas, an alchemy where questioning invades us, sometimes accompanied by answers. Throughout the journey, artists strive to weave their way among the crossroads, intersections, and meanders of knowledge. Opening the field of possibilities, opening doors and fictitious frames, thus creating artistic currents that transform into a breeze or a storm, artists have the power to lead us through passages or propel us toward the ultimate path, skillfully avoiding conduits and dead ends.

In this exploration to define what drives us to understand, Michel Kirch with his photographs, could serve as our guide, passing behind the mirror into an imaginative conception, opening a door again and again onto a landscape of the Vendée or Anjou bocage, with its sunken and shaded paths. Imagine a “black path” bordered by imposing banks, old oaks, and ashes serving as windbreaks, bathed in the twilight glow. Let’s dive into our palette, find a shade of blue hour, add a subtle touch of fog, a slight saturation, and thus the script is set to describe this journey in our imagination, in art, creation, beauty.

With the hope of sharing this imaginary journey and unveiling the magical world that drives us toward the path of creativity, let us cultivate the curiosity to discover what lies behind each door. We are, and must remain, the conveyors of talents at the heart of cultural diversity, a fundamental rule that drives us to be facilitators of talents.

JACK DUFOUR
Head of the Environmental Art section

“Art is an inner journey to unknown worlds.”

Unknown Worlds offers a poetic celebration of cultural diversity through art. This new section brings together the works of artists from various backgrounds. Each one brings with them the richness and nuances of their culture of origin. Through their creations, these artists invite us on a sensory and emotional journey to lands, near and far, as well as to exotic imaginings.

Each work tells a unique story. Stemming from ancestral traditions, legends, characters, enchanting landscapes, scenes of everyday life, both familiar and strangely new. The colours, delicate patterns and diverse media display great variety, offering viewers a complete immersion in distinct artistic universes.

They remind us that art is a universal language capable of transcending geographical and cultural boundaries. They celebrate the encounter between tradition and modernity, between past and present.

Unknown Worlds is an ode to the cultural richness of the world and a tribute to the artists who, through their personal sensitivity, offer us a glimpse into the infinite mosaic of human experience.

GAbO
Head of « Mondes Inconnus » section

Myths and Singularity, for the 9th consecutive year, presents a less normative, less academic artistic universe, where the artists’ instinctive sincerity is expressed through a variety of unconventional media.

As Dubuffet said, “every artist has the task of developing his own medium”, well illustrated in this singular section: mural art, with materials such as sewn or welded metal, carved fabrics, wicker, rope knots or garbage bags, but also sculptures of assembled objects, ceramics, or waste materials. And of course, a festival of paintings and colors…

For these singular works with innovative materials coming from all horizons are far removed from academic standards. Unusual works for personal myths, to “wash your soul from the dust of everyday life” (Picasso).

PATRICIA BERQUIN
Head of the « Myths et Singularity » section

Now we can say a new wonderful chapter will be written in the history of this institution, through artists from all around the world…

Artists of various sensitivities, personalities and cultures are expressing themselves in styles free of any constraint, all united to elevate their art to the highest. It has already been nine editions that Digital Art is represented at the Salon, in all forms. This section presents creations from eclectic universes, each more phantasmagorical than the last and rich from a technical point of view.

To the artists who have created by my side a real meeting space, to this family created throughout the years: “Thank you very much for these stones added to the construction of the building.

May this 121st edition be as magical for you than for us.

Long life to the Salon d’Automne !

ISABELLE SCHMITT
Head of the « Digital Art » section

Translated by Camille Cozic

When we deeply love certain texts, we feel that we should accompany them.

Book artists offer us - from one work to another - a great diversity of forms : manuscripts, lead or pigment typography, fold-out books, Leporello (accordion) books, papers, steel, leather and fabrics, loose- leaf under canvas, Altuglass, pencils, inks, collages, screenprinting or engravings… they always converse with the words. Sometimes, certain creators emancipate themselves from the structure of the written word for the freedom of color. Then, the painted book is born.

In the encounter with the visitor and for sharing, once again this year on the Champs-Élysées, autumn is beautiful in books.

MICHEL BOUCAUT
President of the Artists’ Books section

Translated by Véronique Boucaut

The partnership between the Salon d’Automne in Paris and the Beaux-Arts Découverte association, represented by the painter Christiane Ruiz-Jancovic, enabled 16 young prize-winning artists from the 14th Salon Arbustes, a salon dedicated to visual artists under the age of 30, to exhibit in a private space at the Salon d’Automne in Paris and thus promote their work to a wider public.

This initiative is designed to encourage young artists by enabling them to compare their work with that of renowned artists.

CHRISTIANE RUIZ-JANCOVIC
Painter
President of the Beaux Arts Découverte association
President of Salon Arbustes
www.salon-arbustes.com

Translated by Josselin Fontan

Once more, we are pleased to welcome the members and artists of the ‘Amplitude’ section. Since several years, the Salon d’Automne has created strong ties with the BBK Bonn’s association.

A new project has been organized by Georg Schnitzler Co-president of BBK, in partnership with Victor Sasportas in charge of the Salon d’Automne Free Expression section as well as the Professor Damien Pietrek, a Polish partner, on the wrapping theme.

This project untitled ‘Wrapping – envelope and luggage of life’ presents works of art by selected artists, whom are either French, German, Polish, Czech or Dutch and whom will be virtually exhibited within the section Amplitude.

Before this step in Paris, exhibitions have been organized in Germany, Netherland, Czechia… with our Europeans partners and our artists. Our project pursues its way through Europe. We hope its influence will reach other countries and cultures.

Georg Schnitzler deeply thanks the Salon d’Automne for its warm welcome during its annual exhibition. He is pleased with the quality and the continued existence of this friendly relationship. “Together, we represent a unified Europe in art” is what he likes to write.

On behalf of Victor Sasportas –representative for European projects– the Salon d’Automne gives its thanks to Georg Schnitzler, Mélanie Mertens and locals organizers of exhibitions for their commitment and all their work. (Translated by Camille Cozic)

GEORG SCHNITZLER
Co-President of BBK

VICTOR SASPORTAS
Head of Expression Libre groupe
European Projects Delegate

MIKA ICHIKAWA ABOUT HERSELF

As a child, she was looking for calm sea (Seto Inland Sea), and by then there was not yet a big bridge (Seto Ohashi Bridge opened in april 1988).
Her father and mother ran a small fish shop. At that time, her parents often took her to the “hama”(fresh fish market) and she kept looking for the brightly colored fish on display. She has never forgotten the dazzling glow of the sea and colorful fish from”hama”.
Even now, each landscape has been vivid in her mind forever.

『ミカイチカワ自身について』
(原風景)
子供の頃、目の前には静かな海があり(瀬 戸内海)そしてまだ、アノ大きな橋がなか った頃(瀬戸大橋 1988.4開通) 家は小さな鮮魚店を営んでいました。 その頃よく親に連れられて「はま」(鮮魚 市場)に行き、私は並べられた色鮮やか鮮 魚達をずーっとずーっといつまでも眺めて おりました。 あの時の海の眩い輝き「はま」で見た色と りどりの魚達は、今でも私の中に鮮明に残 っております。

我々の近隣で起きている戦争や紛争は、愛を持つ人にとってのすさまじ
い悲しみであり、地域や人に格差を生み、様々な社会問題に発展し拡大
しています。同じ人間同士が苦しみをつくること、人が人を傷つけるこ
とはとても悲しいことです。背景にある様々な差別や格差を理解し、そ
れらを不要にすることが必要で、今まで以上、人が人を思いやることが
重要です。

アートには人から感動や共感を引き出す力や人を愛する力、創造力があ
ります。

芸術には、差別や格差はありません。作品の中の光に触れるとき、人は
感性を刺激され、幸せなことを考え、作品と共に美と創造の中にいま
す。

今後、創作活動の意義は、今までより一層強くなり、芸術の本質を捉え
直し、表現する必要があります。国境を越えた作品やアーティスト同士
のつながりがますます重要です。

日本からも多くの作品がサロン・ドトーヌに集結しました。社会の危機
に屈せず、今、そして世界を豊かにする作品は、アーティストの創作へ
の情熱の証しです。

アートを盛り上げようと尽力されているサロン・ドトーヌ協会の皆さ ま、そして会を率いるレヴェック ジャン=クリストフ会長へ深く感謝申 し上げると共に、本サロンの開催を心よりお祝い申し上げます。

本サロンの作品と作家が光となり全世界人々に愛と勇気を与え、芸術文
化の発展と平和の礎となるものと信じております。

代表 馬郡 文平
欧州美術クラブ
JIAS日本国際美術家協会

BUMPEI MAGORI
Président du Club des Amis de l’Europe et des Arts
Président de la Japan International Artists Society

Cabu dessine. Tout le temps. Partout. Et bien sûr dans les festivals de jazz qu’il parcourt pendant 50 ans. De ses milliers de caricatures, 22 ont été sublimées en tableaux. Pas de chronologie, pas d’histoires, rien que des « sur le vif » spontanés, et agrandis pour magnifier la force de son art, de son génie du trait.