Geneviève Lacambre (born 1937) is a French honorary general

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of heritage, and has been the Chargée de mission at the Musée d'Orsay.

Career

Curator at the department of paintings of the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

from 1965 to 1979, then at the Musée d'Orsay until 2002. Lacambre has been for seventeen years director of the Musée national Gustave Moreau in Paris, from 1985 to 2002, a specialist of this Symbolist painter. She has published numerous articles and exhibition catalogues on

Gustave Moreau Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...

and the Symbolists. She authored (, 1997) and organised the 1998 exhibition of Moreau at the Grand Palais in Paris before being presented in Chicago and New York. In addition to Symbolism, she also curated an exhibition in 2017 where

Japonisme ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japo ...

is the theme.

It is outside the modes of his time that

, trained in Renaissance art traditions, elaborated a complex and decorative art style, which combines a deep knowledge of all mythologies with a high awareness of a painter's profession. Creator of a highly personal universe, where there is a passion for myths and mysticism— Salome,

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

, Oedipus and the

Sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

...—dream and imagination, poetry and mystery. Moreau was at the same time one of the forerunners of

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

and one of those who opened the way for modern art: he was teacher of

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

and

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a ...

, and was fascinating to the later Surrealists who drunk on dreams. The Gustave Moreau Museum—created by the artist himself—contains all the secrets of this "master enchanter", who was happy to call himself an "assembler of dreams". Geneviève Lacambre retraces Moreau's life and artistic sources in this small colourful volume—entitled (lit. 'Gustave Moreau: Master Enchanter'; English edition – ''Gustave Moreau: Magic and Symbols'')—with more than 120 paintings, drawings, watercolours and photographs, and an anthology of documents and letters, published by

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

. It is part of the series in their collection. The book opens with seven full-page reproductions of Moreau's ''

Jupiter and Semele (1894–95; English, ''Jupiter and Semele'') is a painting by the French Symbolist artist Gustave Moreau (1826–1898). It depicts a moment from the classical myth of the mortal woman Semele, mother of the god Dionysus, and her lover, Jupiter, ...

'' and its details. The

body text __NOTOC__ The body text or body copy is the text forming the main content of a book, magazine, web page, or any other printed or digital work. This is as a contrast to both additional components such as headings, images, charts, footnotes etc. on ...

is divided into five chapters: I, "Uncertain Beginnings"; II, "In the School of Italy"; III, "A Hope for History Painting"; IV, "The Birth of Symbolism"; V, "A Message to Future Generations". The second part of this book is the "Documents" section containing a compilation of excerpts which is divided into five parts (): 1, Moreau's writings; 2, Moreau's myths; 3, Novels and poems; 4, Critical perspectives; 5, A benevolent equal. At the end of the book are list of further reading, list of illustrations, and an index. It has been translated into American English and Japanese.

Selected publications

* with

Michel Laclotte Michel Laclotte (Saint Malo, France, 27 October 1929 – Montauban, 10 August 2021) was a French art historian and museum director, specialising in 14th and 15th century Italian and French painting. Early life and education Laclotte's father, ...

and Claire Frèches-Thory, ''Orsay: Paintings'', Editions Scala, 1989 * ''Gustave Moreau : Maître sorcier'', coll. « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 312), série Arts. Éditions Gallimard, 1997 ** ''Gustave Moreau: Magic and Symbols'', "

Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, ...

" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1999 * with Marie-Laure de Contenson, Douglas W. Druick, et al. ''Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream'', Art Institute of Chicago, 1999 * with Gary Tinterow, Deborah L. Roldán, et al. ''Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting'', Metropolitan Museum of Art & Yale University Press, 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacambre, Geneviève 1937 births French curators French women curators Directors of museums in France Women museum directors Living people