The Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art is a private museum open to the public in Montsoreau, France. It opened 8 April 2016. The permanent collection exhibited at

Château de Montsoreau The Château de Montsoreau is a Flamboyant Gothic castle in the Loire Valley, directly built in the Loire riverbed. It is located in the small market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''département'' of France, close to Saumur, Chi ...

consists of

Philippe Méaille Philippe Méaille (; born 27 April 1973) is a French author and art collector, and the founder and president of the Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art. Currently, Méaille owns the world's largest collection of Art & Language wo ...

's collection of works by the

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...

collective

Art & Language Art & Language is a conceptual artists' collaboration that has undergone many changes since it was created in the late 1960s. The group was founded by artists who shared a common desire to combine intellectual ideas and concerns with the creati ...

History

Philippe Méaille, who lives in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duke ...

, worked with Christian Gillet, the president of the department of

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-et ...

, to study the possibility of creating a museum of contemporary art in

, and to install his collection in the

château de Montsoreau The Château de Montsoreau is a Flamboyant Gothic castle in the Loire Valley, directly built in the Loire riverbed. It is located in the small market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''département'' of France, close to Saumur, Chi ...

, a departmental property. On 19 June 2015, Christian Gillet offered Méaille a 25 year lease.

Restoration works

During the redevelopment of a former storage room, the masons discovered a chimney dating from about 1450. This chimney is currently being studied in collaboration with the bâtiments de France to be restored. A library on the

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics, ae ...

, contemporary creation and applied arts opened in August 2016. The château de Montsoreau-Museum of contemporary art port reopened at the end of May 2017 after several months of work, to allow its visitors to arrive by boat.

Architecture

Since more than a thousand years, the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of Montsoreau is the gate of Anjou; it is the only Château de la Loire that is a museum of contemporary art. Historically built by one of the ambassadors of Charles VII King of France, Jean II of Chambes is the first of Kingdom's Lords, with Jacques Cœur to install the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

in France. He built the Château de Montsoreau between 1443 and 1453, directly by the side of the Loire, like Venetian palaces built during the same period.

Collection

The Philippe Méaille collection, which constitutes the collection of the museum, is installed on the first two floors of the museum. It is composed exclusively of works by the artists group Art & Language. Founded in 1968, Art & Language – which takes its name from the eponymous newspaper Art-Language – is made up of British,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n artists. The collective is still active and currently represented by Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden. Between 1965 and now, up to fifty artists have joined or collaborated with Art & Language, including:

Terry Atkinson Terry Atkinson (born 1939) is an English artist. Atkinson was born in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. He lives in Leamington Spa, England with his wife, artist Sue Atkinson, with whom he has frequently collaborated. In 1967, he began to ...

, David Bainbridge,

Michael Baldwin Michael Baldwin is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. The role is portrayed by Christian LeBlanc, originally from November 26, 1991 to July 7, 1993, and again since April 25, 1997. Michael has had relat ...

, Ian Burn, Charles Harrison, Joseph Kosuth,

Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...

Philip Pilkington Philip Pilkington is an Irish economist working in investment finance. He became well-known for his critiques of neoclassical economics on his blog ''Fixing the Economists''. Since then he has written a book entitled '' The Reformation in Econo ...

, Mel Ramsden, Dave Rushton,

Lynn Hershman Leeson Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman; born 1941) is a multimedia American artist and filmmaker. Her work combines art with social commentary, particularly on the relationship between people and technology. Leeson is a pioneer in new med ...

, Mayo Thompson,

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...

, Dan Graham and Lawrence Weiner. In 1977, when Mayo Thompson, leader of the band The Red Krayola left the collective, it was composed of Michael Baldwin, Charles Harrison and Mel Ramsden. The collection includes paintings,

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...

s, manuscripts, tapuscrits, installations and videos. Carles Guerra said of it: "besides being affected by the artists' attitude, The collection is further affected by the archaeological perspective with which it was assembled."

Gallery

File:Art-LanguageV3No1-1974.jpg,

: Art & Language: ''Art-Language'', Vol.3 Nr.1, 1974. File:Art & Language, Untitled Painting (1965), Tate Modern, London - 20130627.jpg,

: ''Mirror Piece'', 1965. File:Art language air conditioning show conceptual contemporary art.jpg, Art & Language (Michael Baldwin): ''Air-Conditioning Show'', 1966-67. File:Art language opera 1984 conceptual art.jpg, Art & Language: ''Victorine'' in ''Art-Language'' Vol.5 Nr.2 (1984), 1983. File:Secret painting mel ramsden art language.jpg, Art & Language (Mel Ramsden), ''Secret Painting'', 1967. File:Art language journal mel ramsden 1982 conceptual art.jpg, Art & Language: ''Art-Language'' Vol.5 Nr.1, 1982. File:Art language journal conceptual art contemporary art.jpg, Art & Language: ''Art-Language The Journal of Conceptual Art'', Vol.1 Nr.1, 1969.

Temporary exhibitions

* 2016: Agnès Thurnauer, ''a History of Painting''. * 2017: Ettore Sottsass, ''Designer of the World''. * 2018:

, ''Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light)''. * 2018: ''1968: Sparta Dreaming Athens'', collective exhibition, Tony Smith, Edward Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg, Les Levine,

Bernar Venet Bernar Venet (born 20 April 1941) is a French conceptual artist. Early life Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist, and Adeline Gilly and was the youngest of four boys. He was brought up in Château-Arnoux-Sai ...

, Maria Marshall, Dan Graham,

. *2019: Mappa Mundi. *2019: Roman Signer. *2019: Charlotte Moorman. Think Crazy

Events

François Morellet Prize

The museum collaborates with the ''National days of Books and Wine'' in Saumur, to award an art writer with the

François Morellet François Morellet (30 April 1926 – 10 May 2016) was a French contemporary abstract painter, sculptor, and light artist. His early work prefigured minimal art and conceptual art and he played a prominent role in the development of geometrical a ...

prize. * 2016:

Catherine Millet Catherine Millet (; born 1 April 1948 in Bois-Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French writer, art critic, curator, and founder and editor of the magazine '' Art Press'', which focuses on modern art and contemporary art. Biography Born in Bois-Col ...

, art critic and ''artpress'' redactor in chief. * 2017:

Michel Onfray Michel Onfray (; born 1 January 1959) is a French writer and philosopher with a hedonistic, epicurean and atheist worldview. A highly-prolific author on philosophy, he has written over 100 books. His philosophy is mainly influenced by such thin ...

, Philosopher. * 2018: Eric de Chassey, director of the National institute of art history. * 2019:

, artist. * 2020:

Kenneth Goldsmith Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an American poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and since 2020 is the ongoing artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, where ...

* 2021:

Orlan orlan is an internationally recognized French artist. She is not tied to any one material, technology, or artistic practice. She uses sculpture, photography, performance, video, 3D, video games, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and ro ...

* 2022: Bernard Marcadé

Miriam Rothschild Gardens

In 2017, the gardens of the castle were transformed into wild gardens. On more than one hectare, the garden represents freedom and

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

Miriam Rothschild Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild (5 August 1908 – 20 January 2005) was a British natural scientist and author with contributions to zoology, entomology, and botany. Early life Miriam Rothschild was born in 1908 in Ashton Wold, near Oundle in N ...

(1908–2005), a scientific researcher, created the "natural" gardens. The wild garden favors native plants and preserves the surrounding

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...

to propose a balance between fauna and flora.

Publications

* 2016: Rod Mengham, ''Un tour chez Agnès Thurnauer.'' * 2016: Art & Language, ''Entretien avec Victorine Meurend.'' * 2017: Art & Language, Affiche: Almost a Home for Homeless Stuff. * 2017: Fabien Vallos,

, Antonia Birnbaum, Fabrice Hergott, Chloé Maillet, Louise Hervé, Antoine Dufeu, A Constructed World, ''Protest 1517-2017''. * 2018: Art & Language, Matthew Jesse Jackson, ''Art & Language Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light)''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art 2016 establishments in France Event venues established in 2016 Art museums established in 2016 Art museums and galleries in Montsoreau Arts centres in France Contemporary art galleries in France Modern art museums in France Art & Language Renaissance architecture in France