Lectoure

LECTOURE

LECTOURE

(2014)

In 1921 my grandfather, Marek Szwarc (1882-1958), a young Polish-Jewish artist newly arrived in France, spent the first of what were to be many summers in Lectoure, a remote town in the south of France. During that first stay he converted to Catholicism. A pivotal moment in his life, it lay the foundations for a strongly spiritual artistic practice.

I was too young when Marek died to have any memories of him but I grew up surrounded by his paintings and sculptures, and I often heard about Lectoure.

While still remote, Lectoure now has a Center for Art and Photography. Invited for a residency, I sought to use that stay to better come to know my grandfather's ideas on faith, creativity, and beauty. In 2014 I returned to exhibited some of my grandfather’s paintings from that first summer of his in Lectoure, showing them side by side with work I had produced during my own time there.

Quest. 2014. 70 minute loop. Silent.

Still life. 2015. Gelatin silver print. 14 x 19 inches. Edition of 5.

Still life. 2013. Gelatin silver print. 23.5 x 17.5 inches. Edition of 5.

Still life. 2015. Gelatin silver print. 19 x 14 inches. Edition of 5.

Marek Szwarc. Still life. 1920. Oil on Canvas. 22 x 18 inches