Alain Moreau, Villefranche sur Saône in France - MEET THE COLLECTOR Series Part Sixty
Alain Moreau who lives in Villefranche sur Saône in France, makes up part sixty of my Meet the Collector series. What an achievement! Moreau has been collecting for many years. After managing a theater and art center near Lyon for 28 years, in 2019 he created the association Art Brut en Compagnie with 15 founding members, to promote art brut and present his collection. Read on to find out more and why he has a soft spot for artist André Robillard.
André Robillard and Alain Moreau - Villefranche sur Saône, 2017
1. When did your interest in the field of outsider/art brut begin?
My interest started in the mid-eighties, as I worked in a drama theater. Originally I got interested in popular art, naïve art, and also the Surrealists. I was led to Art Brut through popular art and my first meetings with the so-called “roadside creators” like the sculptor Gabriel Albert in Nantillé in Charente Maritime.
2. When did you become a collector of this art? How many pieces do you think are in your collection now? And do you exhibit any of it on the walls of your home or elsewhere?
In the early eighties I started making some cheap acquisitions. My first purchases were from Raymonde and Pierre Petit - two creators living in Bourges, and then Pépé Vignes and René Guisset. Also purchases at Ceres Franco Gallery ‘L’Oeil de Boeuf’ in Paris, which was the only Art Brut Gallery in those days. Since then I have collected about 500 pieces, mainly drawings, sculptures or paintings. I am not selective in that way. I keep a few in my house but my main purpose is to show my collection; I take the greatest pleasure in sharing it with the public.
Alain Moreau and Guy Brunet in his house - Viviez 2017
3. Can you tell us a bit about your background?
My interest in the creations of common people stems from my father, a baker who baked magnificent breads that just looked like fleeting scuptures; so my passion for Art Brut reflects my modest origin. As the Director of a theater and of small art centres, I have often made room for ‘singular’ artists. In the eighties, I showed Chaissac, Sanfourche, Caillaud, then Dereux, Ughetto, Dubuffet and ‘brut’ artists such as Pépé Vignes and René Guisset. In the last five years I have started showing creators from my collection - André Robillard in particular, or Guy Brunet. Also authors from big workshops in institutions for people with a handicap, like those in campagn'art workshop in Belguim directed by Yves Poelman. I also encouraged young contemporary creation with collective exhibitions of young plastic artists in situ in Rochefort and Villefranche-sur Saône.
4. I’ve read that you are the president of ‘Art Brut en Compagnie.’ As you do not have a website, can you tell us more about this organisation, when you were set up and what it’s purpose is? Does your collection form part of this organisation and is it or will it be housed anywhere in particular?
The organisation was created in 2019, after I retired from my job as a Theater Director. I created this organisation, gathering around 15 founding members and amateurs. I would call them humanists who enjoy Art Brut and Art Brut artists. At the heart of it is my collection, which is the raw material of the exhibitions that we have set up so far. It is sometimes complemented and enriched with other works from artists themselves or other from collections.
5. Who are the others that are part of the organisation and do they also collect outsider art/art brut?`
The other members are not necessarily collectors of Art Brut, but they may occasionally buy a piece that really appeals to them. They come from different professional backgrounds. I am proud and pleased to note that there is gender equality in our organisation - a notable fact in a field where men are usually more numerous and present.
6. What style of work, if any, is of particular interest to you within this field? (for example is it embroidery, drawing, sculpture, and so on)
I am interested in sculpture, painting, drawing, and installations on display in gardens, notably by ‘brut architects’. Presently I am directing my collecting toward creators with a handicap and I am currently doing research on ‘Art Brut toys’ with a view to showing them in a touring exhibition.
Exhibition Les Bruts, toys Raymonde and Pierre Petit, René Guisset, ... - Le Creusot 2021
7. A conflicted term at present, but can you tell us about your opinion of the term outsider art, how you feel about it and if there are any other words that you think we should be using instead?
This type of controversy is alien to me. I personally follow the term coined by Jean Dubuffet. I will refer to him on any occasion and I rally his fundamentals. I do not define myself as a purist, so I can accept that Art Brut be confronted to contemporary art and be open to different aesthetics. The use of the terms outsider art or folk art does not bother me either, as long as they respect the values of genuine, ‘wild’ art. In France the term “hors les norms” or “beyond norms” is sometimes problematic; I am sad to see some plagiarist artists who have no talent of their own.
8. Would you say you had a favourite artist or piece of work within your collection? And why?
Collections often mirror their owners! I must confess that I dote on some artists - some men and women count a lot for me, as much as their works. For example I would say that the man André Robillard is as important to me as his works. And I prefer the wooden carts of Emile Ratier to André Robillard’s rifles. I love Emile Ratier’s carts because I like simple artifacts reminding me of work in the fields, of peasants. Emile Ratier simply created fantastic objects with bits of wood, and they are just brilliant. They remind me of my childhood and the absolute beauty and simplicity of the world.
9. Where would you say you buy most of your work from: galleries, studios, art fairs, exhibitions, auctions, or direct from artists?
I enjoy visiting artists and buying from them, and this makes up the core of my collection. It is extremely important to link up the artists with the world. I occasionally buy pieces at auctions, and sometimes in galleries. The problem is that I do not possess a personal fortune and Art Brut today can reach very high prices.
10. Is there an exhibition in this field of art that you have felt has been particularly important? And why?
I was spellbound by the Marcel Storr exhibition in Paris. By its imaginary, futuristic, surrealistic, naïve, poetic cities. I was moved because the author, a sweeper, in the city of Paris was deaf and almost illiterate, a humble man among humble men who created in hiding. For me, this is the spirit of Art Brut. I liked Laurent Danchin as the curator. It was a shock, and a fantastic trip to another planet.
I also felt a strong emotion in front of the works of Hans-Jorg Georgi, a German creator from the Atelier Goldstein workshop, presented by Bruno Decharme in the Maison Rouge in Paris. Lastly I loved the ‘Danser Brut’ exhibition in the LAM in Lille, designed by Savine Faupin and Christophe Boulanger in late 2018. A delicate, poetic, erudite, brilliant exhibition, open to all arts: plastic, stage, and cinema. I liked it because it included Petit Pierre, Jean Gard, René Guisset and their merry-go-rounds, because I am interested in the reference to childhood and also because I could see there the pieces I have donated to the LAM (René Guisset). This museum is also a felicitous meeting point between art brut and contemporary art.
Emile Ratier "le charriot" (Collection Alain Moreau Art Brut en Compagnie)
11. You currently have an exhibition up in France at L’arc Scene Nationale – can you tell us about this exhibition and who features in it?
This exhibition means much to me insofar as it shows a great number of pieces from my collection. It encompasses 220 pieces and 33 artists all chosen with care. It is a colourful exhibition that is tinged with joyful tones and gives a lively image of these artists, through a simple scenography. My aim is to take the public on an imaginary trip and to give them pleasure, while discovering the artists. It is fairly playful and I think it is a good introduction to Art Brut, including major artists such as Emile Ratier, Madge Gill and André Robillard. But also less famous ones and namely artists who create installations in their gardens: “roadside-inspired artists” as they have been called, and artists living in psychiatric institutions, or just unclassifiable ones, but all of them beyond norms.
12. Are there any people within this field that you feel have been particularly important to pave the way for where the field is at now?
Many people do a great job. Laurent Danchin, unfortunately deceased today, was for me a reference and a friend. I can also quote a great collector, Bruno Decharme, or Christian Berst for their open-mindedness, or Sarah Lombardi at the Lausanne Collection, Savine Faupin at the LAM, Martine Lusardy at the Halle Saint-Pierre or else Bruno Montpied, promoting outsider architecture in France. And also John Maizels and James Brett in England.
13. In late 2020 you were due to have a solo exhibition for Andre Robillard, which has now been postponed to the end of 2021. What is your fascination with his work and will the exhibition just feature works from your collection or other works perhaps borrowed from Robillard too?
I am particularly attached to André Robillard and I would say that I am as interested in the man as in his works. I think his drawings are more appealing to me than his rifles. I am sensitive to the poetic mood of the drawings rather than the military aspect of the rifles, even though I don’t perceive him as a violent person. Within the exhibition we have a show together, André and me, which tells audiences about his story and the history of Art Brut. There are also works made in a cooperation between André and Alexis Forestier. They are entitled “sputniks”. These pieces belong to Alexis Forestier and have been borrowed with his agreement for the exhibition.
Collection Alain Moreau Art Brut en Compagnie, flyer
14. Are there any artists that you are still looking to add to your collection?
Naturally I would love to acquire pieces from Crepin, Lesage, Aloïse, and Séraphine, but I can’t afford them! However there are fascinating contemporary artists, in particular a German artist who makes cardboard planes that are true floating cities. His planes have enthralled me and his name is Hans-Jörg Georgi!
15. Is there anything else you would like to add?
I must add that a great deal of my collection comes from artists within institutions for disabled persons. In these workshops some creators have the simplicity, pureness and power that I love in Art Brut. I wish to go along with them and promote their work as much as I can. I am inhabited by this type of humanistic approach.