Education plays key role in making Renoir exhibition a reality
Guernsey’s forthcoming Renoir exhibition – globally, the only one to be held this year – has come about as a direct result of the organisers’ commitment to art education.
The showing, at Guernsey Museum, of 10 original works by the French impressionist is the culmination of an attempt by Art for Guernsey to expand understanding of Guernsey’s role in Renoir’s career and to present his art – and his methods – to schools.
The exhibition – which runs from 30 September to 17 December – has been made possible by the involvement of Cyrille Sciama, the director of the Giverny museum, which is affiliated to the Musee d’Orsay.
During preparations for the opening, Art for Guernsey’s David Ummels explained that Mr Sciama’s knowledge had revolutionised local understanding of Guernsey’s significance to Renoir’s career. His contacts and reputation had enabled links to be forged with museums around the world, in such a way as to bring Guernsey into the reckoning as a host for such a prestigious event.
Hear more from Art for Guernsey founder David Ummels on the latest Guernsey Press Arts Podcast
However, when Mr Ummels approached him in 2019 to open the Renoir Walk, he had initially been very reluctant.
‘I tried to convince him to come by offering a nice weekend at the Bella Luce,’ he said.
‘His logistics were difficult, so I even offered him a private jet, and he couldn’t care less.’
Mr Sciama’s reticence disappeared, however, when Mr Ummels began to explain AFG’s intention to ‘get a thousand children onto the cliffs’ through the initiative, and to educate them about Renoir’s work.
This was music to the ears of the up-and-coming curator, who has since built an international reputation for doing things differently in the museum world, with an emphasis on education.
‘We forged a bond on that,’ Mr Ummels said, ‘and we wouldn’t have been able to do this exhibition without Giverny.’
AFG’s cultural enrichment programme has already ensured that children in 13 primary schools have been able to see an original Renoir.
Over six sessions, Year 3 students have learned to read a composition and have been shown specific techniques of oil painting, such as ‘the old-master trick’ – as Mr Ummels put it – of layering green, blue and brown to create the impression of depth in a landscape.
In recognition of Renoir’s own childhood, during which he could not afford canvases and instead painted ceramics, local school children have created 548 ceramic tiles, which have gone on display at AFG’s gallery in Mansell Street.
‘This means that these children are now artists, whose work is being exhibited in a public gallery,’ Mr Ummels said. ‘They will not forget this.’
Tickets for the exhibition, which opens next weekend and runs until mid-December, can be purchased here.
