vendredi 27 janvier 2012

Painting for "Au Soli"

Nearby our new home, in Megeve, one of the most  famous ski resorts of the Alps there is a nice shop, in the center of the village. It is called " Au Soli" (" in the sun" ...reminds me of " At Solsidan" by Carl Larsson).
The owner, one of the most passionate persons I know is a master cabinet-maker and a pure lover of the crafts of our mountains. He is a sort of scholar, incredibly knowleadgeable when it comes to the Alps, their traditions, crafts, history. His shop is a marvellous place that reflects his curiosity, his taste and the energy he puts in his work.
He found me at Maison et Objet a few years ago and ordered me a beautiful folding screen with paintings inspired of A.Calame.

Last year I did several paintings for him.

First a relatively large panel inspired by two different posters of the 1920's and 40's.



Then he talked to me about a very special piece of furniture that he had managed to find in some remote area and copied in his workshop.
He suggested that I create an ornament for the inside of the body and some "golden age" mountain scenes with figures for the inside of the doors.
I must say that I  would not have had this idea, but  I trusted him...and I think it was the right thing to do... the mix is in fact very unsual but it works perfectly.








He also asked me if he could borrow one of the canvases he had seen in my studio when he visited me as I was working on this commission.
It has been installed in the shop he owns down in the valley.
This painting was some sort of exercise I did for the exhibition of Salon in Versailles two years ago.
The mountain in the background is the Mont Blanc, pretty much as  we can see it from home.
The two figures are "borrowed" to Van Honthorst, a dutch painter of the XVIIth century. 



In May, I also painted this little chest of drawers for him. 
I covered the whole thing with paper and painted an "academic" alpine landscape inspired by paintings of  A. Calame, one of the most talented romantic mountain painters ever.



And finally I also painted four more small panels in the same style as the first one in this post.
They are all inspired by 1950s italian and swiss advertizing posters for ski resorts.
I have sometimes copied them quite literally and some other times I have made changes , in the backgrounds particularly.





Here are three of them in the shop " Au Soli" in Megeve.


It is a pleasure, and a pride, to be able to coopoerate with inspiring people like this man.





12 commentaires:

  1. Wonderful work. I especially like the mountain climbers in the cabinet!

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  2. Thank you Antonia !
    Scott,
    I also love those climbers in black and white, It was a lot of fun. I worked from old photographs of the 1930s and I also invented a few of these characters. I am glad you like them.

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  3. Hello Padcal,
    I have never seen a cabinet as this before!!! What a wonderful idea of your client and you!!! This is really beautiful! I do hope to visit this cabinetmaker visiting Megève next time!
    It is always a pleasure to visit your blog Pascal and thank you so much for sharing this today!!
    Have a great weekend Pascal!
    xx
    Greet
    PS Talking about Megève, have you seen the new hotel 'Le Chalet Zannier' in Megève yet? We have made a lot of cabinets and furniture for this hotel. The owner lives in Belgium and was already a client of us before he renovated this hotel. I really should visit the hotel in one of the next months.

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  4. What a wonderful collaboration between artists! I love your work on the inside of the door with the rock climbers. Your Versailles piece is such an unexpected treat as well. The 1950's ads always stressed strong light and shadow. I absolutely love the skis standing in the snow! This is a wonderful post Pascal.

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  5. Thank you Theresa. I am glad you liked this post !!!
    Pascal

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  6. A wonderful posting, Pascal. I am particularly charmed by the small chest of drawers. I would not have thought to cover it first with paper! That is a technique worthy of its own posting — I'd be interested to learn more.

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  7. Once again, you've made me very jealous. Everything from Maison et Objets, to your new home in the Alps, to the wonderful projects you do. As an amateur alpinist who's been to the Alps a few times, I was delighted to see this post with those wonderful classic images of (is it?) Whymper's climb up the Matterhorn. I was lucky on my last trip to France to find an old book of mountaineering photos by P. Dalloz from 1931. What a treat. Thanks for your blog, and for sharing your beautiful work.

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  8. Wow just discovered your blog through "surfaces fragments" . Your work is fantastic....original and fun too...vraiment BRAVO Pascal !!

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  9. ME ENCANTAN ESOS MUEBLES SON DIVINOS.
    SALUDITOS

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  10. Muchas gracias Alicia! This is about all I can say in spanish , sorry :)

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  11. I forgot to thank Sylvie...and also Alan ( Surfaces fragment) for having a "Demeures peintes" link on his blog.

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