Agnès Thurnauer
Biography
Franco-swiss artist, born in 1962.
Lives and works in Paris (France)
Through her paintings, sculptures, and installations Agnès Thurnauer focuses her practice around language. Thus, writing is often present in her pictorial praxis leading the viewer to emancipate endlessly of his own reading. This plastic quality of language can be experienced with her three dimensions sculptures made of casts of letters on different scales letting the gaze and the body involved. For Agnès Thurnauer, the relation with artworks induces reciprocity. If artworks reads the world, it is up to everyone to make our own reading. This shared language is at the core of our society and gives art a powerful poetic and political function.
Agnès Thurnauer's work was revealed to the public by a solo show at the Palais de Tokyo in 2003. Since then, she has exhibited at the Centre Pompidou (Paris) ; Angers Museum of Fine Arts ; Unterlinden Museum (Colmar) and at the Château de Montsoreau-Collection Philippe Méaille, among many other venues.
She has also shown her work in Belgium at the SMAK (Ghent) ; in the United States at the Seattle Art Museum and the Edgewood Gallery (Yale), in Brazil at the CCBB (Rio) and in many biennials and art centres: the Lyon Biennale, the Cambridge Biennial, the Kunsthalle Bratislava, and the Yermilov center Kharkiev ...
In 2020, Agnès Thurnauer set up a permanent work, the Matrices Chromatiques, at the Musée de l'Orangerie. In September 2021, she has installed a major public commission from the French Ministry of Culture in Ivry-sur-Seine.
In 2022, she had 4 monographic exhibitions, including the Lam museum in Villeneuve d'Asq and the Matisse museum in Nice.
A new monograph has just been published by JRP Ringer, with essays by Cécile Debray, Dean Daderko and Elisabeth Lebovici.
Agnès Thurnauer works regularly with writers, philosophers and poets for publications and artist's books (Michèle Cohen-Halimi, Tiphaine Samoyault, Rod Mengham, Anne Portugal, Francis Cohen...)
Her works joined many private and public collections (Centre Georges-Pompidou, Musée des Beaux-arts de Nantes, Musée des Beaux-arts d'Angers, musée d'Unterlinden, FMAC, FRAC (Auvergne, Bretagne, Ile de France...).
Selected works
![Tablette #17, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_tablette_19_michel_rein_11210.jpg)
![Tablette #11, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_tablette_11_michel_rein_10683.jpg)
![Figure #4, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_figures_4_michel_rein_10612.jpg)
![Figure #1, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_figures_1_michel_rein_10609.jpg)
![Tablette #10, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_tablette_10_michel_rein_10607.jpg)
![Tablette #2, Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_tablette_2_michel_rein_10598.jpg)
![Prédelle (not yet #4), Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_predelle_not_yet_4_michel_rein_10289.jpg)
![Prédelle (préface #2), Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/artwork/images/agnes_thurnauer_predelle_preface_2_michel_rein_10016.jpg)
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Gallery exhibitions
Museum exhibitions
![Centre Pompidou Metz, 2024](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/d85_4095.jpg)
![Centre Pompidou Metz, 2024](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/d85_3278.jpg)
![Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/agnesthurnauer_2023_fontevraud_01.jpg)
![Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/agnesthurnauer_2023_fontevraud_02.jpg)
![Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/agnesthurnauer_2023_fontevraud_03.jpg)
![Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/mmn_148_a_thurnauer_2022.jpg)
![Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/mmn_160_a_thurnauer_2022.jpg)
![Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022](/cspdocs/contact/portfolio/mmn_173_a_thurnauer_2022.jpg)
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Videos
EXHIBITION
Agnes Thurnauer's exhibition "La traverser", Michel Rein, Paris, 2021
Matisse/Thurnauer #1
Agnès Thurnauer's exhibition « On se retrouve chez toi » at Musée Matisse, Nice, 2022, curated by Claudine Grammont
Matisse/Thurnauer #3
Agnès Thurnauer's exhibition « On se retrouve chez toi » at Musée Matisse, Nice, 2022, curated by Claudine Grammont
Matisse/Thurnauer #5
Agnès Thurnauer's exhibition « On se retrouve chez toi » at Musée Matisse, Nice, 2022, curated by Claudine Grammont
Performance of Anna Chirescu and Alexandra Grimal, Michel Rein, Paris, 2023
CONVERSATION
Conversation with artist Agnès Turnauer, Cécile Debray and Clément dirié, Michel rein, Paris, 2023
INTERVIEW
Interview by Connaissance des arts on the theme "restitute or interpret ? »
Agnès Thurnauer - Aliénor l'Ouragane
Conversation between Agnès Thurnauer and Gatien Du Bois, co-curator of the exhibition Aliénor l'Ouragane at Fontevraud I Le Musée d'art Moderne, 2023.
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Press
![Big-big et Bang-bang #16 : Agns Thurnauer - Art Critique](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/big_big_et_bang_bang_16_agns_thurnauer_art_critique_orianne_castel_michel_rein_1231.jpg)
Art Critique
Big-big et Bang-bang #16 : Agns Thurnauer
2024
![Sleepwalker : Agnès Thurnauer - Art Critique](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/sleepwalker_agnes_thurnauer_art_critique_orianne_castel_michel_rein_1205.jpg)
Art Critique
Sleepwalker : Agnès Thurnauer
2024
![Autoportrait #1: Agnés Thurnauer - Art Critique](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/autoportrait_1_agnes_thurnauer_art_critique_orianne_castel_michel_rein_1189.jpg)
Art Critique
Autoportrait #1: Agnés Thurnauer
2023
![Les Pariétales d'Agnès Thurnauer - Art Critique](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/les_paritales_d_agns_thurnauer_art_critique_orianne_castel_michel_rein_1178.jpg)
Art Critique
Les Pariétales d'Agnès Thurnauer
2023
![De quelques femmes remarquables - La République de l'Art](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/de_quelques_femmes_remarquables_michel_rein_1173.jpg)
La République de l'Art
De quelques femmes remarquables
2023
![Marie Agnès Gillot épate la galerie - Le Figaro](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/marie_agnes_gillot_epate_la_galerie_michel_rein_1171.jpg)
Le Figaro
Marie Agnès Gillot épate la galerie
2023
![La Vie de Château - ELLE](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/la_vie_de_chateau_michel_rein_1136.jpg)
ELLE
La Vie de Château
2023
![Thurnauer, Richier et les autres - L'oeil](/cspdocs/press/couvertures/thurnauer_richier_et_les_autres_michel_rein_1138.jpg)
L'oeil
Thurnauer, Richier et les autres
2023
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Publications
![Now When Then](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_now_when_then_nantes.jpg)
Now When Then
Publisher: Fage & Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
2014
![Women Artists/elles@centrepompidou](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_couv_elles_en_web.jpg)
Women Artists/elles@centrepompidou
Publisher: Centre Pompidou
2012
![May I ? Philippe Méaille présente le travail d'Agnès Thurnauer](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_may_i_new.jpg)
May I ? Philippe Méaille présente le travail d'Agnès Thurnauer
Publisher: Villa Emerige
2010
![elles@centrepompidou](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/couv_elles.jpg)
elles@centrepompidou
Publisher: Éditions du Centre Pompidou
2009
![now](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_now_new.jpg)
now
Publisher: Monografik
2009
![Thurnauer à Angers](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_thurnauer_a_angers.jpg)
Thurnauer à Angers
Publisher: Museé des beaux-arts d'Angers
2009
![Life-size Portrait](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_marcelle_duchamp.jpg)
Life-size Portrait
Publisher: Onestar Press
2008
![Notre histoire](/cspdocs/editions/couvertures/at_notre_histoire.jpg)
Notre histoire
Publisher: Palais de Tokyo & Paris Musées
2006