CHRISTINE MACÉ

«To write, is to put things down in black & white. »
(Mallarmé)

I consider writing to be the most important human achievement after that of making fire.

« I write because you are not here ». Writing transcends time & space, allowing the transmission and conservation of ideas worldwide. Over the centuries, whether on sumerian clay tablets, papyrus, stone, or on parchement or paper, markings and the written word inform us and bear witness to other ages and other civilisations.

Now in the 21st century, pen and ink are largely replaced by keyboard and screen, but .... My own discovery of the art of Calligraphy came by way of Literature: having worked professionally on the letters of Madame de Sévigné, I was amazed to find myself holding the original 17th century correspondance of the famous letter-writer. And I then wondered what paper, what sort of ink the marquess would have used to express her thoughts using her simple goose quill. That was how it started, but I knew nothing about modern day calligraphers. Then in 1994 I met Hassan Massoudy and Denise Lach who opened the way for me to a vast new field of study in Europe and the Middle East.

It became obvious that the act of marking down words gave meaning and sense to all our thoughts.

Thus we saw the arrival of Laurent Rébéna, Kitty Sabatier, Monica Dengo, Anne Gros-Balthazard, and then Ye Xin and Christine Dabadie-Fabreguettes for China followed by Abdallah Akar, a Tunisian calligrapher And many other exhibitors also showed their work at ' Terres d’écritures' during these last ten years ; However, I selected these nine artists to conceive the exhibition at Vogüé in the Ardèche during the summer of 2009. Both the seriousness and excellence of their work and their talent made them an obvious choice. The carefully renovated château of Vogüé had nine beautiful rooms flooded with light for ' l’art du trait ' representing the World's three great writings. Each of the artists would present the essence of his work and the result was four magic months of wonder and expression.

Christine Mache

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So it was that in 2000 I founded the association 'Terres d’écritures' at Grignan in the Drôme, as I wanted to bring together both Literature and the Calligraphic art in the same place. I had previously studied History and History of Art and used the experience creating a space for exhibitions. In this way the current work of contemporary calligraphers could be presented.

I would like to thank Massimo Pesce for having the idea to create this website entitled 'le geste suspendu' and I hope that it will allow the work of these great artists to be seen more widely and emphasize the rightful place of calligraphy among contemporary art.

Christine Macé