28 January 2024/
120TH EDITION OF SALON D’AUTOMNE, PARIS
“Color is par excellence the part of art, which holds the magical gift. While the subject, the form, the line are primarily addressed to thought, color has no meaning for intelligence, but it has all the power over sensitivity” — Eugène Delacroix
The Salon D’Automne celebrated 120th anniversary at the Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris from 17 January 2024 to 21 January 2024 participating more than 1,000 talented artists and 30,000 visitors from all over the world.
“We celebrate the 120th anniversary of our society of artists from January 17 to 21, 2024 at the Grande Halle de La Villette, where we expect more than 1,000 talented artists and more than 30,000 visitors for this exceptional edition. We have unanimously decided by the Board of Directors to perpetuate this prestigious place for our future editions. This 120th edition will be a great moment for our beautiful and still dynamic association, born in 1903 in reaction to an ambient conformism, which opposed, at the time, new pictorial trends,” said Gilles Guillaume, Architect–artiste photograph and President of Salon d’Automne.
The renowned artist Larissa Noury, Architect-colourist who works as Professor of Colour ITECOM Art & Design, Paris writes after participating in The Salon d’Automne Exhibition:
“A breath of fresh air is blowing through the legendary Salon d’Automne! For the second time in its history, this unmissable event on the world art scene, to which we owe the public and critical recognition of two major currents of modern art, Fauvism and Cubism, abandons its marquees historic sites located on Avenue des Champs- Élysées for the majestic glass and steel cathedral of La Villette. Imagine 6,000 m² of space occupied by thousands of works of art of all kinds, divided into 20 distinct sections and coming straight from the eccentric and innovative universes of more than 1,000 artists from all over the world. A very important event during which the historic Salon d’Automne, which is now celebrating its 120th edition, once again proves to us its marvelous attractiveness and its capacity to reinvent itself over the decades. In parallel with this resolutely disproportionate main exhibition, the Salon offers its visitors a cycle of conferences, poetry readings, musical performances and fashion shows. One thing is certain, the Grande Halle should, without a doubt, contain lovely surprises, hidden talents and the discovery of tomorrow’s avant-gardes“.
“My colors are opaque or iridescent, matte or shiny; they overlap and challenge each other to evoke the feeling of floating in a space that is both universal and personal. Beyond time but full of energy that comes from nature, my architectural colors create an atmosphere of well-being for you. The intelligence of color is a hope of happiness,” says Larissa Noury, colorist in art and design who exhibits her big colourful composition ‘Harmony of Nature’, in oil on canvas, applied natural pigments (Roussillon ochres). The original was executed using the new techniques of ‘Tactile Colors’ that won the Gold Medal of the Prix Lépine International in 2019.
“The unique technique of tactile colors represents architectural layers and also superimposes natural materials (sand, silk, tapioca, Mica powder) with oil paint, leaves and gold acrylic. This style is called new impressionism. This large triptych with dazzling colors, whose rhythm and textures could evoke nature, the sky, the earth, the trees…harmony of the 4 elements makes us discover through painting a new logic of beauty, the construction of tactile lights and immaterial colors,” she added.
During the inauguration, renowned artist Larissa Noury performed in her new painted dress which continues a colour harmony of her painting.
Lady Dewi Sukarno (Japan) is the patron of this year’s event. The guest artist of the Salon d’Automne 2023-2024 is Rachid Koräichi, special guest Gregory Barian, singer-interpreting Charles Aznavour.
Special tribute to this Salon goes to sculptor François Pompon (1855-1933), native of the town of Saulieu in the Côte d’Or. Practitioner in the studio of Auguste Rodin, then the master entrusted him with the management of his workshop in 1893 and offered him the sketch of “The Kiss” which Pompon will bequeath to the Dijon museum. His works are then deposited at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon and at the Saulieu museum which becomes the François Pompon museum. This year, thanks to the collaboration with the Saulieu Museum and the Atelier Prométée, the visitors can rediscover the Pompon bear as well as some of his works at the Salon d’Automne.
THE SALON D’AUTOMNE
Created in 1903, at the Petit Palais in Paris, by a few friends in reaction to the reigning academicism, the Salon d’Automne established itself as an essential actor and witness to the emergence of the most important artistic movements of the 20th century, Fauvism, Surrealism, Cubism, Abstract Art, New Figuration, Singular Art etc.
“It was in the basement of the Petit Palais, in reaction to the reigning academicism that Guimard, Carrière, Desvallières, Bonnard, Rouault, Vallotton, Vuillard, Matisse and so many others gathered around the architect Frantz Jourdain to organize an independent exhibition, with the aim of promoting the avant-gardes and innovative minds of their time. Instigator of multi-disciplinarity and equality of the arts, the Salon d’Automne was born. After having participated in the emergence of all the major artistic movements of the 20th century, as Surrealism, Cubism, Abstraction, New Figuration, Singular Art etc., by welcoming the biggest names in modern painting, from Cézanne to Picasso through the School of Paris, Dali, Zao Wou Ki and up to Antonio Manfredi (2014) and Moebius (2015), sculpture, Maillol, Rodin, Camille Claudel, Bourdelle, Duchamp Villon, Ousmane Sow (2016 ) among thousands of other known or lesser known creators, music, from Debussy or Ravel to Didier Lockwood, poetry, Apollinaire, Aragon or more recently Glissant, Siméon, Bonnefoy, the Salon d’Automne is undoubtedly the promoter of all the arts, without distinction of hierarchy.
The Salon d’Automne exhibition is presented in sections, rigorously selected and organized for a better reading of the works. Apart from classifications by discipline (Engraving, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography, Digital Art, Video, Architecture, Environmental Art, Artists’ Books), there are several sections for Painting, defined by their pictorial tendencies. The 120th anniversary of the Salon d’Automne de Paris is above all a marvelous opportunity to discover the worlds of over 1000 artists from 43 countries. It is also a chance to follow many festivities (conferences, performances, concerts, fashion shows, etc.,” renowned artist and Architect-colourist Larissa Noury shares in detail.
