Aloïse Corbaz. La folie papivore

In the 1960s, MCBA began to take an interest in Aloïse Corbaz (Lausanne, 1886 – Gimel, 1964), an exceptional Vaudois artist who was committed to the Cery mental institution in 1918. Over the years the museum has amassed more than 300 pieces by Aloïse Corbaz. Today the museum continues to develop its Aloïse Corbaz collection, recently acquiring 8 illustrated notebooks containing 111 compositions in all.

The show is a response to the mission of the MCBA’s special Espace Focus gallery, which is to offer to the public the chance to view works from the museum’s permanent collection that are only rarely seen, especially works on paper, which have to be protected from exposure to light. Aloïse Corbaz. La folie papivore (Aloïse Corbaz. Mad on Paper) features some 50 drawings that are representative of Aloïse Corbaz’s output, from the first small lead pencil drawings and the illustrated notebooks, to the compositions done in color pencil and the crayons of the great rolls of paper measuring several meters and abounding in shapes and images of all kinds.

The exhibition’s presentation takes us into the meanders of a complex and poetic imagination. From the depths of the dark abyss where her mind had plunged, Aloïse Corbaz returned and wielded all the heroic and festive potential of the female, the figure of womankind, pointing the way to the Flower Power generation and especially Niki de Saint Phalle, whose own work makes her Aloïse Corbaz’s heir.

Curator: Catherine Lepdor, Chief Curator