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 market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''Departments of France, département'' of France, close ...

consists of Philippe Méaille's collection of works by the conceptual art collective

Art & Language Art & Language is an English conceptual artists' collaboration that has undergone many changes since it was created around 1967. The group was founded by artists who shared a common desire to combine intellectual ideas and concerns with the cre ...

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 ** Du ...

, 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, Indr ...

, 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 market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''Departments of France, département'' of France, close ...

, 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 ...

, 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 fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

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 Jacques Cœur (, ; in Bourges – 25 November 1456 in Chios) was a French government official and state-sponsored merchant whose personal fortune became legendary and led to his eventual disgrace. He initiated regular trade routes between Fran ...

to install the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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 ''Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art'' (1969-1985) was a magazine published by the conceptual artists of Art & Language. Involving more than 20 artists in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and covering almost 20 years producti ...

– is made up of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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, p ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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. Career 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 beg ...

, David Bainbridge,

Michael Baldwin Mike or Michael Baldwin may refer to: * Mike Baldwin (''Coronation Street''), a fictional character in the British soap opera * Mike Baldwin (motorcyclist) (born 1955), American motorcycle road racer * A. Michael Baldwin (born 1963), American acto ...

Ian Burn Ian Burn (29 December 1939 – 29 September 1993) was an Australian conceptual artist. He was a member of the Art and Language group that flourished in the 1970s. Ian Burn was also an art writing, art writer, curator, and scholar. Biography Ia ...

Charles Harrison Charles Harrison may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Charles W. Harrison (1878–1965), American tenor * Charles Yale Harrison (1898–1954), American-Canadian novelist and journalist *Charles Harrison (art historian) (1942–2009), British art ...

Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth (; born January 31, 1945) is a Hungarian-American conceptual artist, who lives in New York and Venice,

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 ''The Reformation in Economics'' is a book written by the Irish economist Philip Pilkington. It is a book that aims to deconstruct contemporary neoclassical economic theory in order to determine to what extent it is scientific and to what ex ...

Mel Ramsden Mel Ramsden (27 December 1944 – 23 July 2024) was a British conceptual artist and member of the Art & Language artist group. Life and work Ramsden was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England on 27 December 1944. He studied at Nottingham C ...

, Dave Rushton,

Lynn Hershman Leeson Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman; born June 17, 1941) is an American multimedia artist and filmmaker. Her work with technology and in media-based practices is credited with helping to legitimize digital art forms. Her interests inc ...

Mayo Thompson Mayo Thompson (born February 26, 1944) is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the experimental rock band Red Krayola. Background Mayo Thompson’s formal education includes Garden of Arts Kindergarten until Holy ...

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Her accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most i ...

, 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 sc ...

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

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 Ettore Sottsass (; 14 September 1917 – 31 December 2007) was an Italian architect and product designer. He was known for his designs of furniture, jewelry, glass, lighting, homeware and office supplies. He also worked on numerous buildings an ...

, ''Designer of the World''. * 2018:

, ''Reality (Dark) Fragments (Light)''. * 2018: ''1968: Sparta Dreaming Athens'', collective exhibition, Tony Smith,

Edward Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the anti- pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating s ...

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

Les Levine Les Levine (born 1935) is a naturalized American Irish artist known as a pioneer of video art and as a conceptual artist working with communication media. In 1967, Levine won first prize for sculpture in the Canadian Sculpture Biennial. He coll ...

Bernar Venet Bernar Venet (born 20 April 1941) is a French conceptual artist. He was the 2016 recipient of the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement Award. Early life Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist ...

, Maria Marshall,

Dan Graham Daniel Graham (March 31, 1942 – February 19, 2022) was an American visual artist, writer, and curator in the writer-artist tradition. In addition to his visual works, he published a large array of critical and speculative writing that spanned ...

. *2019: Mappa Mundi. *2019:

Roman Signer Roman Signer (born 1938 in Appenzell, Switzerland) is an artist who works in sculpture, art installation, photography, and video. Early life and career Signer started his career as an artist at the age of 28, after working various jobs such as an ...

. *2019:

Charlotte Moorman Madeline Charlotte Moorman (November 18, 1933 – November 8, 1991) was an American cellist, performance artist, and advocate for avant-garde music. Referred to as the "Jeanne d'Arc of new music", she was the founder of the Annual Avant Garde Fes ...

. 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 geometrica ...

prize. * 2016:

Catherine Millet Catherine Millet (; born 1 April 1948) 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-Colombes, France, she is best known ...

, 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 think ...

, 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 poetry, poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and an artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches. He ...

* 2021: Orlan * 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 is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

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, North Northamptonshire ...

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

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

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, Philippe Méaille, 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 and galleries established in 2016 Art museums and galleries in France Montsoreau Museums in Maine-et-Loire Arts centres in France Contemporary art galleries in France Modern art museums in France Art & Language Renaissance architecture in France