The new heroes. Paul Richer and the sculpture of work

We reported extensively on our pages that, after years of torpor, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chartres narrowly escaped permanent closure in 2017 (see articles). What would happen next remained unclear. The museum, for which a Scientific and Cultural Project was being drafted, would remain open during the renovation work, which would probably begin in 2019 or 2020, for a budget that was not made public. Six years later, although the museum has remained open, it is still awaiting renovation. The timetable for future operations - which should still not prevent the museum from remaining open - has not yet been defined, as the architectural and museographic programme - concerning the Episcopal Palace and the outsourced storerooms - is still being drawn up. A major change, however, is that a new director, Gregoire Hallé, has been appointed in March 2021, leaving the supervision of the renovation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Draguignan (article to follow) - his first post after graduating from the INP - to take up the post of director of the Musée Chartrain.

1. Paul Richer (1849-1933)
The Harvest, Salon of 1893
Plaster - 174.5 x 107.5 x 39 cm
Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photo: Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts

See the image in its page

Since then, work has begun on the collections, resulting in uninterrupted restoration campaigns since 2022. In spring 2023, the exhibition Trésors révélés [1] presented a selection of recently restored paintings, sculptures, objets d’art and ethnographic objects - to which we will return in a later article, which will also focus on some of the recent acquisitions made by the City of Chartres - but at the end of this year we are revealing another body of work that had been lying dormant in the reserves: the collection of sculptures by Paul Richer, which had been kept there since the artist’s widow made a donation in 1934. These sculptures bring to light an artist who is largely unknown today, even in his home town of Chartres, where his imprint is only discreetly visible: two public monuments to Louis Pasteur and Gabriel Maunoury.

2. Paul Richer (1849-1933)
Departure for the Fields, Salon of 1897
Plaster - 221 x 107 x 35 cm
Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photo: Chartres, Musée des Beaux-Arts

See the image in its page

Timidly represented in the medals gallery of the Musée d’Orsay - which also holds part of the artist’s studio collection donated by his widow in 1934 -, a supporting role in themed exhibitions such as Les sculpteurs du travail at the Musée Camille Claudel (see article) or Figures du corps at the Beaux-Arts de Paris (see article), Paul Richer had never benefited from a monographic exhibition or book, nor from academic work. The first book on the artist, the catalogue published as part of the current exhibition, thanks to the support of the Friends of the museum, the company SOPREMA, the Galerie de Chartres and the auctioneers Maison R&C and Crait+Müller, is all…