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.
And in autumn 2024, her work will be exhibited at the Musée de l'histoire de l'immigration in Paris and at the National Museum of World Writing Systems in South Korea.
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
Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (now #15) , 2025
acrylic on canvas
55 x 33 cm (21.65 x 12.99 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR25446
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (now #14) , 2025
acrylic on canvas
55 x 33 cm (21.65 x 12.99 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR25445
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Agnès Thurnauer
Grande Prédelle (Maintenant) , 2025
acrylic on canvas
150 x 270 cm (59.06 x 106.3 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR25442
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Agnès Thurnauer
Baby Big-Big #12 , 2024
acrylic and collage on canvas, wooden frame
27 x 41 cm (10.63 x 16.14 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR25441
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Agnès Thurnauer
Baby Big-Big #11 , 2024
acrylic and collage marouflaged on wood, wooden frame
27 x 35 x 2,9 cm (10.63 x 13.78 x 0.79 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24439
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Agnès Thurnauer
Tablette , 2024
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
81 x 60 cm (31.89 x 23.62 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24427
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Agnès Thurnauer
Tablette #33 , 2024
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
162 x 121,5 cm (63.78 x 47.64 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24426
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Agnès Thurnauer
Tablette #29 , 2024
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
162 x 121,5 cm (63.78 x 47.64 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24424
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Agnès Thurnauer
Tablette #19 , 2024
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
81 x 60 cm (31.5 x 23.62 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24419
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Agnès Thurnauer
Figure #4 , 2023
acrylic on canvas
216 x 136,8 cm (85.04 x 53.54 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR23404
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (not yet #4) , 2022
2 elements : acrylique on canvas, wooden frames
55 x 33 cm (21.6 x 13 in.) each
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR23376
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (préface #2) , 2022
2 elements : acrylique on canvas, wooden frames
55 x 33 cm (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR22368
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (translation #2) , 2022
2 elements : acrylique on canvas, wooden frames
55 x 38 cm (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR22364
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (Crossing #2) , 2021
2 elements, acrylic on canvas, wooden frames
21.65 x 12.99 in. (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR21304
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Agnès Thurnauer
Matrices/Assises (XXY) , 2020
varnished bronze
45 x variable x variable cm (17.72 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR20283
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (sentence #2) , 2018
2 elements, acrylic, pencil on canvas, wooden frames
55 x 38 cm (21.65 x 15 in.) (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19236
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (indeed) , 2018
2 elements, acrylic, pencil on canvas
55 x 38 cm (21.65 x 15 in.) (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19229
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (abstract #1) , 2018
2 elements : acrylique on canvas, wooden frames
21.65 x 13 in. (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19195
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (Border) , 2017
2 elements, acrylic on canvas, wooden frames
21.65 x 14.96 in. (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR20271
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Agnès Thurnauer
Prédelle (language) , 2017
2 elements : acrylique and pencil on canvas, wooden frames
55 x 38 cm (21.65 x 15 in.) (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19230
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Agnès Thurnauer
XXstory papier #9 , 2015
pencil on paper
24 x 32 cm (9.45 x 12.6 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19188
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Agnès Thurnauer
Virginia Valadon , 2014
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
150 x 200 cm (59.06 x 78.74 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19179
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Agnès Thurnauer
Matrices/Assises , 2013-ongoing
brushed aluminium
45 x variable x variable cm (17.72 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR20276
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Agnès Thurnauer
Autoportrait (into abstraction) , 2013
pencil on canvas, wooden frame, glass
195 x 130 cm (76.77 x 51.18 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR24421
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Agnès Thurnauer
Big-Big & Bang-Bang , 2010
acrylic on canvas
189,5 x 175 cm (74.41 x 68.9 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR20284
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Agnès Thurnauer
Grandes Ailes Complementaires , 2010
acrylic and wood on canvas framed
95 x 195 cm (37.4 x 76.77 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19047
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Agnès Thurnauer
Portrait Grandeur Nature (Jacqueline Lacan) , 2009
resin and epoxy paint
120 x 120 x 15 cm (47.24 x 47.24 x 5.91 in)
Edition of 3 + 2 EA
Private collection, Paris, France
N° Inv. THUR19008
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Agnès Thurnauer
Portrait Grandeur Nature (Francine Bacon) , 2008
resin and epoxy paint
120 x 120 x 15 cm (47.24 x 47.24 x 5.91 in)
Edition of 3 + 2 EA
Collection : MNAM - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
N° Inv. THUR19006
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Agnès Thurnauer
Grande Prédelle (random) , 2007
2 elements, acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
195 x 115 cm (each)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR22359
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Agnès Thurnauer
Cartels #2 , 2007
4 elements, acrylic on canvas, wooden frames
each: 30 x 60 cm (11.81 x 23.62 in.)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19168
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Agnès Thurnauer
Portrait Grandeur Nature (Marcelle Duchamp) , 2007
resin and epoxy paint
120 x 120 x 15 cm (47.24 x 47.24 x 5.91 in)
Edition of 3 + 2 EA
Collection : MNAM - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France ; Private collection, Paris
N° Inv. THUR19015
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Agnès Thurnauer
Portrait Grandeur Nature (Joséphine Beuys) , 2007
resin and epoxy paint
120 x 120 x 15 cm (47.24 x 47.24 x 5.91 in)
Edition of 3 + 2 EA
N° Inv. THUR19012
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Agnès Thurnauer
Portrait Grandeur Nature (Annie Warhol) , 2007
resin and epoxy paint
120 x 120 x 15 cm (47.24 x 47.24 x 9.84 in)
Edition of 3 + 2 EA
Collection : MNAM - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France / Private collection, Paris, France
N° Inv. THUR19004
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Agnès Thurnauer
Sans titre #1 , 2006 - 2015
acrylic on canvas, wooden frame
116 x 89 cm (45.67 x 35.04 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19175
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Agnès Thurnauer
L'annoncée , 2002
acrylic, felt and adhesive tape mounted on canvas mounted on canvas, wooden frame
229 x 219 cm (90.16 x 86.22 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19133
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Agnès Thurnauer
Peinture primaire , 2000
acrylic, paper and adhesive tape on canvas mounted on canvas
203 x 183 cm (79.92 x 72.05 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19128
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Agnès Thurnauer
Big-Big & Bang-Bang #12 , 1995
acrylic on marouflaged canvas
195 x 180 cm (76.77 x 70.87 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR23372
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Agnès Thurnauer
Big-Big & Bang-Bang #10 , 1995
acrylic on canvas mounted on canvas
205 x 170 cm (80.71 x 66.93 in)
unique artwork
N° Inv. THUR19072
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Gallery exhibitions
Museum exhibitions
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
MO.CO, Montpellier, 2024
MO.CO, Montpellier, 2024
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Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Ici poème (cur. David Lemaire et Marie Gaitzsch), Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-De-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, 2025
Parade, une scène française. Collection Laurent Dumas MO.CO, Montpellier, 2024
Parade, une scène française. Collection Laurent Dumas MO.CO, Montpellier, 2024
Lacan, l'exposition, (cur. Marie-Laure Bernadac et Bernard Marcadé), Centre Pompidou Metz, 2024, ph. Marc Domage
Lacan, l'exposition, (cur. Marie-Laure Bernadac et Bernard Marcadé), Centre Pompidou Metz, 2024, ph. Marc Domage
Aliénor L'Ouragane, Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023 © Margot Montigny
Aliénor L'Ouragane, Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023 © Margot Montigny
Aliénor L'Ouragane, Musée d'art moderne de Fontevraud, Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France, 2023 © Margot Montigny
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
On se retrouve chez toi (cur. Claudine Grammont), Musée Matisse, Nice, France, 2022
Près d'elle, Librairie Métamorphose, Paris, France, 2022
Oral Texte, Fondation d'entreprise Pernod Ricard, 2022
Fernande Olivier et Pablo Picasso, dans l'intimité du Bateau-Lavoir, Musée de Montmartre, Paris, 2022
A comme Boa (cur. Sebastien Delot & Grégoire Prangé), LaM, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2022, ph: Nicolas DeWitte
A comme Boa (cur. Sebastien Delot & Grégoire Prangé), LaM, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2022, ph: Nicolas DeWitte
A comme Boa (cur. Sebastien Delot & Grégoire Prangé), LaM, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2022, ph: Nicolas DeWitte
A comme Boa (cur. Sebastien Delot & Grégoire Prangé), LaM, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2022, ph: Nicolas DeWitte
A comme Boa (cur. Sebastien Delot & Grégoire Prangé), LaM, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2022, ph: Nicolas DeWitte
Matrices/Assises/Ivry, Ivry-sur-Seine, 2021
Hahaha. L'humour de l'art, Kanal - Centre Pompidou x ING Art Center, Bruxelles, Belgique, 2021
Hahaha. L'humour de l'art, Kanal - Centre Pompidou x ING Art Center, Bruxelles, Belgique, 2021
Rrose c'est la Life, Centre d'Art Contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France, 2021
Rrose c'est la Life, Centre d'Art Contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France, 2021
Rrose c'est la Life, Centre d'Art Contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France, 2021
Rrose c'est la Life, Centre d'Art Contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France, 2021
Rrose c'est la Life, Centre d'Art Contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France, 2021
Napoléon ? Encore !, cur. Eric de Chassey, Musée de l'Armée, Invalides, Paris, France, 2021
Napoléon ? Encore !, cur. Eric de Chassey, Musée de l'Armée, Invalides, Paris, France, 2021
Matrices chromatiques, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France, 2020
Matrices chromatiques, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France, 2020
Matrices chromatiques, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France, 2020
Land and language, Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium, 2020
Land and language, Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium, 2020
Land and language, Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium, 2020
Land and Language, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia, 2016
Nouvel accrochage des collections, musée Unterlinden, Colmar, France, 2018
Thurnauer à Angers, Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers, France, 2009
Thurnauer à Angers, Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers, France, 2009
Notre histoire, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2006
Biennale de Lyon, France, 2005
BIS - Biennale de Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, 2018
Sculpture in the Close, Jesus College, Cambridge, UK, 2017
Sculpture in the Close, Jesus College, Cambridge, UK, 2017
Matrice / Assise (Portrait de femme), Private collection, France, 2017
Matrice / Assise (from A to A), Private collection, Greece, 2017
Préfigurer, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine, France, 2016
Préfigurer, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine, France, 2016
Préfigurer, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine, France, 2016
Préfigurer, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine, France, 2016
Enfermement, musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint Denis, France, 2019
Enfermement, musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint Denis, France, 2019
Land and Language, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia, 2016
Land and Language, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia, 2016
Une histoire de la peinture- collection Philippe Méaille, Chateau de Montsoreau, Anjou, France, 2016
Women taking over Women artists from the Pompidou Center, Seattle Art Museum, USA, 2012
Elles, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 2009
Parcours Saint-Germain, Paris, France, 2009
Francine Picabia, CCCOD, Tours, France, 2008
Francine Picabia, CCCOD, Tours, France, 2008
Francine Picabia, CCCOD, Tours, France, 2008
Bien faite, mal faite, pas faite, SMAK, Ghent, Belgium, 2007
Bien faite, mal faite, pas faite, SMAK, Ghent, Belgium, 2007
Bien faite, mal faite, pas faite, SMAK, Ghent, Belgium, 2007
Moving Numbers, CNDC, Angers, France, 2017
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
L'Humanité
"Ici Pome" : Agns Thurauer, la peintre qui joue sur les mots
2025
Le Quotidien de l'Art
Peinture figurative, le grand retour
2025
The Art Newspaper
Art Paris Art Fair devient la voix française
2025
Marie Claire
Le nouveau prix qui soutient les artistes femmes
2025
The Art Newspaper
Immortelle : la scène française en peinture
2025
Madame Figaro
Art Paris. Synergie positive
2025
Le Quotidien de l'Art
12 : Les finalistes du prix Her Art 2025
2025
The Art Newspaper
Art Paris : 12 artistes pour le Prix Her Art
2025
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Publications
Journal et autres écrits
Publisher: Beaux-Arts de Paris
2014
Now When Then
Publisher: Fage & Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
2014
Women Artists/elles@centrepompidou
Publisher: Centre Pompidou
2012
May I ? Philippe Méaille présente le travail d'Agnès Thurnauer
Publisher: Villa Emerige
2010
elles@centrepompidou
Publisher: Éditions du Centre Pompidou
2009
now
Publisher: Monografik
2009
Thurnauer à Angers
Publisher: Museé des beaux-arts d'Angers
2009
Life-size Portrait
Publisher: Onestar Press
2008
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