Le Trésor de La caThédraLe d`angouLême Jean

Press release - August 29, 2016
Le Trésor
de la cathédrale d’Angoulême
staged by
Jean-Michel Othoniel
revealed September 30, 2016
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Le Trésor de la cathédrale d’Angoulême (the great stained-glass window), 2016. ©Yann Calvez
In 2007, the Regional Cultural Affairs Directorate in Poitou-Charentes (DRAC) undertook the restoration of
the Cathedral Saint-Pierre of Angoulême. They initiated an ambitious project to restore the edifice to its Romanesque state, in keeping with its nineteenth-century renovation by French architect Paul Abadie known for designing the Sacré Cœur basilica in Paris. Inside, the DRAC and the clerical authorities also wanted to select objects
from its collection of liturgical art, from a little-known period reflecting the nineteenth-century’s religious fervor,
and present them to the public in areas never before opened to the public.
For this public art commission, which also received support from ENGIE, they chose Jean-Michel Othoniel for
the auratic quality of his work, first artist who has ever been invited to stage a treasury. Othoniel, whose work
links history and contemporary art has been working on the project for more than eight years.
Press release - August 29, 2016
Le Trésor de la cathédrale d’Angoulême (details), 2016. ©Jean-Michel Othoniel ; ©Yann Calvez
« I wanted to situate in the 21st century, that sense of wonderment
that people felt in treasuries at the time the cathedrals were built. A place that makes you dream,
where visitors find themselves in the midst of a monumental treasure hunt. »
- Jean-Michel Othoniel
Over the past few years, Othoniel has been working in three of the cathedral’s non-holy areas into a treasury for
liturgical art, collaborating with celebrated artisans to transform them into a highly personal world.
Inspired by the interlacing geometric patterns and colors in Romanesque art, he decorated the floor and walls with intricate patterns, created monumental stained-glass windows in various shades of blue, the color of
the Virgin’s mantle, and designed elaborate beaded furniture to hold the treasury’s art objects and statuary.
While utterly contemporary, Othoniel’s multidimensional artwork, which received financial support from
the DRAC Poitou-Charentes, also adheres strictly to the standards for preserving architectural landmarks.
Decorative and dramatic, this spectacular three-tiered work embraces both the intimate and the sublime,
and restores ideas of man, the universal and the sacred to the heart of the cathedral’s treasury.
Press release - August 29, 2016
Le Trésor
de la cathédrale d’Angoulême
Place Saint Pierre, 16000 Angoulême
Visits of the Trésor organized by Via Patrimoine
www.vpah-poitou-charente.org/Angoumois
Tel : +33(0)5 45 68 45 16
Le Trésor de la cathédrale d’Angoulême (detail), 2016. ©Yann Calvez
press CONTACTS
Othoniel Studio
18, rue de la Perle,
75003 - Paris
+33 (0)1 43 67 47 22
DRAC Aquitaine - Limousin - Poitou charentes
CRMH site de Poitiers - 102, Grand’Rue
BP 553 - 86020 Poitiers Cedex
+33 (0)5 49 36 30 30
Galerie Perrotin
76, rue de Turenne,
75003 - Paris
+33 (0)1 42 16 91 80
Cécilia Hurstel
[email protected]
Pierre Cazenave
[email protected]
Héloïse Le Carvennec
[email protected]