When New York artist Anthony Cudahy encountered anonymous works from the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, he struck up a conversation with them from which an emotional relationship has emerged; one that is apt to redefine our knowledge of the history of art as well as of the artist's own painting. Furthering this dialog, Martin Bethenod, Marc Donnadieu, Jenna Gribbon, Ian Lewandowski and Samuel Monier have, each in their turn, engaged with the artist in the exquisite art of conversation.
This catalog, Anthony Cudahy's first monograph, brings together a portfolio of around sixty of the artist's recent paintings, completed by a special supplement reproducing the thirty or so unattributed works chosen by the painter from the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole. The artist converses with Martin Bethenod and Jenna Gribbon, while Marc Donnadieu discusses the heterotopic aspects of his work and Samuel Monier guides the reader through the reserves of the Musée de Dole. Lastly, the photographer Ian Lewandowski has authored a portfolio capturing the artist at intimate moments in his work.
From April through September 2023, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole is staging Anthony Cudahy's first exhibition in a French institution. On the occasion of this invitation, the artist has chosen to engage a dialog between his own paintings and those of the museum's collections, with no particular preference in terms of period or style. In relation to his recent paintings, whose repertoire—flowers, expressions of intimacy and portraiture—explores the registers of the romantic and the tender, he has chosen works from the museum's collections that resonate with them: idealized landscapes, nudes, scenes of violence and still lifes. Building bridges across the ages, the painterly conversation Anthony Cudahy engages, from New York, with the Jura collections, is highly sensitive in nature. In the process, this dialog reintegrates works that are rarely if ever taken out of storage, into a new regime of visibility.
