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Frédéric PAJAK : PORTRAIT, AUTOPORTRAIT Catalogue d’exposition. Editions Noir sur Blanc, 2021

«Tout portrait qu’on peint avec âme est un portrait non du modèle, mais de l’artiste», relève Oscar Wilde. En dessinant l’autre, on se dessine soi-même ; en se portraiturant, on fait le portrait de quelqu’un d’autre. Une mise en abîme qui remonte aux origines de l’art et qui, de nos jours, n’a rien perdu de son mystère.

Après le succès, en 2018, de l’exposition consacrée à la confrontation du dessin politique et du dessin poétique, le Musée Jenisch à Vevey (Suisse), accueillera l’exposition Portrait, autoportrait, conçue par Frédéric PAJAK du 29 mai au 5 septembre 2021.

En rassemblant près de 250 œuvres sur papier de 80 artistes de la Renaissance à nos jours, l’exposition « Portrait, autoportrait », mêlant réalisme et expressionnisme, élégance et gravité, figuration et transfiguration, questionne les jeux et enjeux de l’un des arts les plus anciens et les plus énigmatiques de tous, celui de la représentation de l’homme par lui- même. Un texte conséquent, retraçant les étapes de l’histoire du portrait et de l’autoportrait, depuis ses origines jusqu’à aujourd’hui, accompagne cette publication. Rembrandt, Goya, Delacroix côtoient Giacometti, Kiki Smith, Andy Warhol.

Frédéric Pajak est né à Suresnes le 10 décembre 1955. Écrivain, dessinateur, réalisateur et éditeur de nationalité franco-suisse, il a été également fondateur et rédacteur en chef de divers journaux et revues, dont Barbarie, L’Éternité hebdomadaire, Voir, L’Imbécile de Paris, 9 semaines.

About the author

Nadia Sikorsky

Nadia Sikorsky was born and raised in Moscow. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and went on to complete her postgraduate studies there, earning a PhD in History. She spent 13 years at UNESCO, first in Paris and then in Geneva. After serving as Director of Communications at Green Cross International, founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, she launched NashaGazeta.ch in 2007, Switzerland’s first Russian-language online daily newspaper.

In 2022, Nadia Sikorsky was named to Le Temps’ Forum des 100, which brings together individuals who, in the newspaper’s view, have “significantly contributed to the success of French-speaking Switzerland”, from across public life, business, politics, science and culture.

After 18 years at the helm of NashaGazeta.ch, Nadia Sikorsky decided to devote herself to what had always held a special place in her work as a journalist: culture in all its diversity. This led to the creation of Russian Accent, a trilingual cultural blog in Russian, French and English, born in the heart of Europe, in Switzerland, which has become her second home and whose multiculturalism and multilingualism have helped shape the character of this new project.

At the heart of the project is the perspective of a European of Russian origin, drawing on more than 35 years of professional experience and a deep knowledge of both cultural traditions. Nadia Sikorsky sees her role as that of a cultural mediator between the two. The title of the blog, Russian Accent, reflects this idea: the accent is neither a linguistic barrier nor a political position, but a distinctive cultural imprint within a European context.

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