Male art & gay art collector's interview 1 - Ivan & Florent

This Summer, you will discover some portraits in the form of short interviews (10 questions) of male art collectors. We will start with Ivan & Florent, young gay couple living in Bordeaux, fabulous port city in the South West of France.

If you would like to share your experiences in collecting male art, feel free to contact us!

Q.1 Could you tell us why you appreciate male art, and if you have a preferred medium ?

I&F : We appreciate that art because of the male nudity, his expressed strength, and sensuality, and also his ambiguity. Sculpture is the medium that represents the best these criteria, both on a tactile and visual point of view. Photography and painting are also two interesting media to express or transmit all these sensations.

Q.2 Among the art pieces you purchased, could you describe one or two ?

I&F : A sculpture in bronze, representing two men, lying on a bed, huddling together, one in peace, the other one protective. And last acquisition : a stunning bronze table, showing three naked men, back to back, with busts leaning forward, and their feet behind, as if walking.

Q.3 Do these pieces have a link, or similarity ?

I&F : They both represent the male strength, his masculinity, but also his fragility.

Q.4  Which is your favourite ?

I&F : A bronze sculpture acquired in St Martin, that we are now fixing on a frame, and that will remind us unique moments.

Q.5 What were the elements that triggered your acquisition ?

I&F : We both had a common crush on it, and we always function that way for art.

Q.6 Is there a male art piece that gave you a very strong feeling or emotion ?

I&F : Yes, a painting, a nude man giving the baton relay to another nude man. Because it shows the continuity of life towards the infinity, and also the transmission.

Q.7 Is there an artist who made a deep impression, or left his mark on you ?

I&F : The only artist we met is J-Chris in St Martin. He impressed us with his passion, and his way to look at male art.

Q.8 Is is (still) difficult to display male art in your home ?

I&F : We do not give the choice. People do like us because who we are. They need to appreciate us also inside our home! The art pieces present in our home represent us, and give even better hints about our personality. Today, male art is not linked anymore to the 'obscene'.  Like female art, it is getting closer and closer from a full acceptance of gender.

Q.9 What would be a piece of male art you would love to see ?

I&F : We would love to acquire a very 'rough' piece, not polished, not structured, who could leave lots of space to ambiguity and allowing each of us a full imagination.

Q.10 What are the ways you use to be aware of male art various expressions ?

I&F : Mainly the web, and some magazines.

Thank you Ivan & Florent!

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If you would like to share your experiences in collecting male art, feel free to contact us! 

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Philippe Farault

Philippe Farault masters human anatomy. And teaches it, or more precisely teaches portrait sculpture.
His technical ability in portraiture in clay is amazing, as he can quickly transform a face through all periods of life, or with some changes go from one ethnic group to the next one.

La Nuit des Temps - Bronze - 2003

La Nuit des Temps

He is passionate about sharing his research and techniques to his students, through his master classes in Europe and in the USA. Philippe also won awards in stone sculpture, and did several monumental pieces in marble.

Here are some other examples of male portraits from his hundreds of sculptures. They are usually in water-based clay, but Philippe also likes marble.

 

If portrait sculpture is of interest to you, check the links below as Philippe has created a large set of books, dvds, even tools for portraiture in clay.
His Facebook page
His website

Christophe Charbonnel

To start this month of June 2015, I am very pleased to present to you the French sculptor Christophe Charbonnel, from which you can still see several very large pieces currently exposed until the end of the month in various places (such as the townhall) of the French town of Compiègne, not too far from Paris.

Le Parisien - extrait photo Jean-Luc Grandvallet

You may like his many ways to express the male body, through faces, usually, or in full body size, sometimes by far larger and taller than that!

Le Messager or Stratège - Bronze - 2014

'David' - 2012

Christophe Charbonnel is now aged 48. After some years with the Walt Disney studios in France, drawing then modelling, he started to sculpt under the guidance of the French sculptor Philippe Seené, and did his first bronze in 1992, before to display his work since 1998, mostly in Paris, but also in other French cities like Cannes, St Tropez, and in Belgium.

Persée II, 2011

Large compagnies have been attracted by his impressive pieces, or group of warriors for example.

Warrior's group- 2009

Veilleur Monumental (Watchman) - 2013

Major hotels like the Ritz in Paris, or Four Seasons in Cannes, have also acquired some of his master pieces. Christophe Charbonnel was a laureate of the Taylor Foundation in 2010.

The Bayart art gallery is the sculptor's agent, in exclusivity. On their website, you can see the numerous pictures of his sculptures, and you can also order the various catalogues available about his work.

Some other links:
Christophe Charbonnel artist website
Interesting interview (in French) from the Bayart gallery founder.
Italian blog mentioning him.
Gay Cultes, the elegant and classy French gay blog who mentioned Christophe Charbonnel

The african male by sculptor James Richmond Barthé

Another example of African-American artist who expressed some homo eroticism at least in some part of his work is James Richmond Barthé.

He was certainly not openly gay (born in 1909), but when he arrived in Harlem aged 20, he soon got several gay friends, who persuaded him to express gay love or male beauty in his art. which he did for 10 years. Indeed he sculpted several African-American men, nude, or in sensual attitudes.
But expressing it, may have been an obstacle at that time to pursue a great career as artist.

 

Below are some extracts of his interesting biography published in Advocate.

''Barthé was born to Creole parents in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and his art brought him out of poverty. A beautiful, bright boy, he was already winning awards for his drawings by the age of 12. Inspired by the neoclassical art he saw in the homes of the wealthy folks he worked for as a houseboy in New Orleans, he developed a lifelong interest in Greek and Roman mythology.''

''Funded by his local church, he attended school at the Art Institute of Chicago and began to have adult affairs with men who sometimes became patrons. He also had a brief affair with author and actor Richard Bruce Nugent, who was a cast member in Dubose Heyward's play Porgy.''

''In 1930 he relocated to New York and attended A’Leila Walker’s “Dark Tower” gatherings, known as a venue where black and white men and women, often gay, mingled. The photographer and writer Carl Van Vechten was deeply involved with the black community of New York in the '30s and was an ardent supporter of Barthé's work. His reputation grew and his work was included in a 1935 exhibit of African-American art at the Museum of Modern Art.''

''He had success and fame. He even had a female patron who set up a trust for him that gave him the freedom to work without financial worries. But he was still an outsider in many ways. He was not a part of the white art world, and his uncompromising homosexuality kept him distanced somewhat from other artists of the Harlem Renaissance. His love life was a series of short affairs that never developed further.''

''In 1975 he moved to Pasadena, Calif., and a year later curators at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art included his work in “Two Centuries of Black American Art.” The attention to his work, the growing respect of a younger audience to artists of the Harlem Renaissance, and the support of his friends brought Barthé stability once again. He lived out his later years as a treasured part of the art community, dying in Pasadena March 6, 1989. ''

Barthe, maybe because he could not attend a New Orleans art school as a teenager because he was black, (and hence went to an art school in Chicago), and also with his Mississipi background, admired the figure of Toussaint Louverture, abolishing slavery in Haiti in 1801. He made several sculptures about him. Below is a picture of the largest one, 40 feet high, which was to be erected on the Champ de Mars facing the National Palace in Haiti capital, Port au Prince.

The Awakening of Africa, whose picture starts this post, was made in bronze in 1959 and is one of Barthé chefs d'oeuvre. You can see another angle of that sculpture on the cover of Sculpture Review magazine (Spring 2011 edition). That edition is focussed on African American Sculpture and key African American figurative sculptors. 

One of the article in that edition (Young, Gifted, and Black Between the Wars - Richmond Barthé’s Manhattan Years) was written by Margaret Rose Vendryes.  She also wrote the book ''Barthé : A life in scupture''.  Indeed during 20 years she was close to the artist, from when he just arrived in New York / Harlem until 20 years later.

Sources :

The Advocate

Omniafrikan  

Blog of Art Now and Then

Sculpture Review Magazine
Le nouvelliste (daily newspaper in Haiti)

Here is a video of Barthe sculpting a dancer.

A few male sculptures from the Paris Opera Garnier (3) Louis Felix Chabaud

The largest serie of sculptures from the Opera House is from the French sculptor Louis Felix Chabaud (1824-1902). It is an impressive collection of more than 400 art pieces that have been recorded so far, from busts, masks, statues, both inside and outside.

The recent book of Jean-Marc Hery 'Louis Felix Chabaud, un sculpteur oublié'  (A forgotten sculptor) allows us to re-discover this.

From modest farmer origins, he started to work on stones aged 15, in Aix en Provence, then studied sculpture in the same town, before moving to Paris. At 24, he won the Prix de Rome for the engraved medals category, so he can go to the famous Villa Medicis, where he will meet Charles Garnier, another winner. Chabaud had a strong relationship with the architect Garnier, and started to receive commissions for the Opera House. It is the beginning of some impressive work.

For example the carved Opera zodiac vault (with 16 heads : 12 zodiac signs and the 4 cardinal points), the golden busts representing famous composers, some lighting busts, and of course the numerous (275) masks, and the giant marble head of Minerve (5 meters high).

'Poissons' zodiac sign - Chabaud

'Comédie' by Chabaud

'Tragédie' by Chabaud

A selection of videos to visit the Opera House:
Official website
Inside visit of the opera 
About the architecture


 
Other sources about the sculptor Louis Felix Chabaud:
Comprehensive general website about him, in French
Book about him by Jean-Marc Hery

A few male sculptures from the Paris Opera Garnier (2) Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

This 'Spirit of Dance', a smiling young man playing music is part of the large sculpture from the main side of Opera Garnier in Paris, called 'La Danse' (The Dance), executed by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875).

It took a few years to agree on the final sculpture between the architect (Charles Garnier) and the sculptor, and to achieve it. The final result still caused much controversy due to the females nudity involved. A bottle of ink was even thrown on it one day. Some wanted the sculpture to be removed. But the war of 1870 started, and the sculptor died as well, so this put an end to the controversy.

La Danse, 1866, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (Opera Garnier) - photo Verchere

Nowadays, the original piece is located at the Musée d'Orsay to ensure its protection from the weather, and a copy is in front of the Opera House, copy made by the French sculptor Jean Juge, and supervised by Paul Belmondo, other French sculptor.
 
Have a look at this interesting video about 'La Danse'

We may come back to some other Carpeaux sculptures. The Musée d'Orsay organized a major exhibition last year about his work.

Sources:
Musée d'Orsay
Video
Wikiphydias

Oreste, muscular young naked hero, by Pierre-Charles Simart

Pierre-Charles Simart is another French sculptor (1806-1857), born in Troyes, who moved to Paris at the age of 17, thanks to a scholarship. He won a Prix de Rome 9 years later.

Back from Rome, he sculpted major pieces in Paris such as a Napoleon statue, and several for the Louvres (Sully pavillion, Denon pavillion, ...). Among his teachers, lets name Ingres.
Simart himself also teached at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

The bronze sculpture below, in Troyes, is from the mythology story of Oreste, searching help from Pallas.

The same sculpture was sculpted in marble and is located in Rouen (below).

Oreste - marble statue - detail

  Below is an old drawing made by the French painter Paul Flandrin (1811-1902) who, like the sculptor Simart, had the same teacher (Ingres).

Drawing from Paul Flandrin (1811-1902).

 And a contemporary version was made by Pierre & Gilles, with their painted photography of Oreste in 2013, displayed at the Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris). The model was Staiv Gentis.

Oreste, by Pierre & Gilles, 2013.

Sources:

Wiki source

Extrait de la Revue des Deux Mondes 

Eternal Optimist