Highlighting a Local History

Restored and expanded in 2017, the Hyacinthe Rigaud Museum presents a rich permanent collection showcasing artists native to Occitania and the Catalan region or those who have spent time there, such as Hyacinthe Rigaud, Raoul Dufy, Pablo Picasso, or Aristide Maillol. Since its reopening, the museum has acquired this significant collection to pursue an ambitious program of temporary exhibitions, as those dedicated to Picasso (2017), Dufy (2018), Clavé (2019), Rodin and Maillol (2019), Rigaud, De Troy, and Largillière (2021), and the most recent one titled “Monfreid, under the sun of Gauguin” (2022), which attracted nearly 40,000 visitors. In 2023, true to the spirit of its scientific and cultural project, the museum continues to showcase prominent local figures who have left their mark on the history of art, focusing on the Catalan sculptor Richard Guino (1890-1973).

This commitment to valorization has often been complemented by an active acquisition policy. The work of Richard Guino is no exception. The Hyacinthe Rigaud Museum had preemptively acquired “Maternité” (model of 1916, cast plaster), a sculpture created in collaboration by Renoir and sculptor Richard Guino, at the Rouillac auction held on June 6, 2021, at Château d’Artigny[1]. This sculpture, having become a part of the museum’s permanent collections, will naturally be incorporated into the exhibition’s narrative, alongside loans from various public and private institutions.

Museum Loans

The exhibition has benefited from unprecedented loans from national and international institutions, including the Fondation Dina Vierny – Musée Maillol.

This participation underscores the longstanding connection between Aristide Maillol and Richard Guino. As the son of a cabinetmaker, Guino was introduced to sculpture from a young age and received training in Barcelona in the early 20th century. Maillol noticed the young sculptor’s talent and encouraged him to move to Paris. Commissions were plentiful for the artist, who employed several assistants and assigned to Guino the task of creating “Printemps”, one of the figures from the Seasons series, destined for the music room of Russian industrialist Ivan Morozov [2].

It was also through Maillol that the young Catalan artist was introduced to Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The painter expressed his admiration for Maillol’s sculpture and aspired to begin a career as a sculptor himself. To assist the aging and arthritic artist, Maillol recommended Richard Guino [3]. Between 1913 and 1918, Guino served as the “hands” for his elder, producing a series of sculptures, although they were only credited to Renoir. The significant role played by Richard Guino in creating these works was only recognized much later, initially by art historian Paul Haessaerts in “Renoir sculpteur” (1947) and later during the trial held in 1965 at the initiative of Michel Guino, the sculptor’s son.

This exhibition aims to put the light on this exceptional collaborative creation, the result of the partnership between Guino and Renoir. The loans from the Dina Vierny Foundation reaffirm Aristide Maillol’s role as a mediator in this relationship, as well as the existence of a stylistic kinship with him. “Buste de Renoir” recalls Maillol’s visit to Essoyes in the summer of 1906, at the request of the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, to execute the portrait of the painter. Similarly, a second loan, “Étude d’une statuette de Maillol,” expresses both Renoir’s fascination with this figure, named “Renoir Bather“, and the painter’s growing attraction to sculpture, leading him to collaborate with Richard Guino in 1913.

Bibliography :

Aristide Maillol (1861-1944). La quête de l’harmonie, sous la direction d’Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat et Antoinette Le Normand-Romain (cat. exposition, musée d’Orsay, Paris, 12 avril-21 août 2022, Kunsthaüs, Zürich, 7 octobre 2022-22 janvier 2023, musée d’Art et d’industrie – André Diligent, Roubaix, 18 février-21 mai 2023), Paris, Gallimard, 2022.

[1]Cat. Exp. Paris, 2022, « Affinités artistiques », Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat, p. 171.

[1]Lettre de Maillol à Eulalie Verdier, 1911, archives privées, inédite, cité dans Cat. Exp. Paris, 2022, « D’un modèle à l’autre », Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat, p. 266.

[1]https://www.latribunedelart.com/le-musee-hyacinthe-rigaud-preempte-une-sculpture-de-renoir-et-guino (consulté le 04/05/2023)