It was in Montreal, 1985, that the exhibition-recital Du côté de chez Proust traced an enchanting path for many. At that moment the arts came together. Texts were commented on by writers accompanied by music of the time and historical as well as contemporary visual arts. The exhibition only lasted a few weeks (from January 16 to February 9) but the recital and the texts were repeated in many places including in Paris. I was designer, director, performer and my friend Claude Duparfait edited the quotations.
Here I am again, this time with the words of Proust and new works that have come my way: Dunoyer de Segonzac, Helleu, Fantin-Latour, Stéphane LaRue, Gerhard Richter, Angèle Verret, Henri Duparc, Claude Debussy and Mary Garden, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, Ker-Xavier Roussel.
Remembrance of Things Past is one of the great works of literature and is open to everyone. For this event I’ve tried, in a very modest way, to bring a few traces into our time. Some rediscovered moments, in the light of reminiscences and personal associations, touch on subjects dear to my heart. The exhibition refers to the text through the use of quotations. Such an essential work will always outrun us but my work will have made “freeze frames” that evoke both the past tense of art and its essential quality for present day life.
R.B., September, 2021
The Proustian adventure of the gallery is not new. From 1983 Roger Bellemare made known his affinities with the author of Remembrance of Things Past by singing numerous recitals and gradually his work as an artist and exhibition curator meshed with those of his gallery, now associated with Galerie Christian Lambert.
In 1984 and 1986, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Treize Gallery achieved considerable success with the exhibition-recital Du côté de chez Proust, later shown in Paris. Our recent version has, therefore, been growing and establishing deep roots for a long time. These are new challenges bringing to light the social climate, cultural milieu, composers and music that animated Proust’s career.
Our exhibition and its catalogue mark the hundredth anniversary of the death of Proust and bring us back into touch with the writer, his words, his illustrious contemporaries (Colette, Lemaire, Bonnard, Roussel etc.) as well as with certain relevant artists of our time (La Rue, Verret, Merrill).
C. Lambert, September, 2022
