Born in Nancy in 1941, Simone Pheulpin
was raised in the Vosges region
in Northeastern France. Within the folds
of her sculptures and the thousand pins
that support them, she narrates her
homeland, a region historically linked
to textile, with its landscape of lakes and
mountain ranges. Self-educated, Pheulpin
developed a brand-new technique that she
has been perfecting for almost 50 years.
Her innovative practice still supports
French traditions as she works exclusively
with raw cotton from one of the last French
textile factories, located in the Vosges,
as well as straight pins from the very last
French pin manufacturing company.
Represented by Galerie Maison Parisienne,
Simone Pheulpin’s artworks have joined the
public collections of several institutions –
the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2018),
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
(2018) and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
in Paris (2019 and 2021).
In 2015, The Fondation des Ateliers d’Art
de France awarded her with the Prix
Le Créateur, which rewards not only
creativity and originality, but also the
artists’ ability to conceive an exhibition
project. In 2017, Pheulpin received the
Grand Prix de la Création – Fine Crafts
Category – from the Council of Paris, after
which the exhibition “Within the Folds”
at the Chapelle Expiatoire in Paris was
dedicated. The Loewe Foundation also
granted her a Special Mention in the 2018
Loewe Craft Prize.
It is her complete mastery of sculptural
work that enables Simone Pheulpin
to transform a simple material – bands
of raw cotton – into artworks that
recreate in turn coral, shell, moss, bark,
fossilized stone, or even ivory, reflecting
the many materials, textures, or patterns
by which the artist was inspired.
With a single, monochrome material,
her work opens on infinite possibilities
of shapes and volumes. For the artist,
this long, minute process of folding,
stacking, and tensioning, constitutes
a form of meditation. Hiding the internal
structure of entwined pins that support the
sculptures, the unbleached fabric shows
but an organic trompe-l’oeil.
Presented within the historic collections
of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Pheulpin’s creations will be placed in the
18th century, Art nouveau and Art déco
rooms. These contemporary artworks open
a dialogue with the 18th century lacquered
panels and furniture, as well as the interior
design by Louis Majorelle (1859-1926) and
Jeanne Lanvin’s apartments, designed
by decorator Armand-Albert Rateau (1920).
In the continuity of the exhibition
“Un Printemps Incertain : invitation
à quarante créateurs” (2021) this
retrospective exhibition shines a new light
on both contemporary creation and the
museum’s collections, placing timeless
artworks in its period rooms.