CLAUDE DE SORIA, HANDLE WITH CARE - HOTEL D'AGUESSEAU

As a part of the multi-gallery exhibition “Handle With Care” organised by the Spaceless Gallery at the Hôtel d’Aguesseau, Clavé Fine Art is pleased to present the artist Claude de Soria.

The exhibition being an ode to delicacy, Claude de Soria’s art, through her subtle work with cement, perfectly echoed the curatorial gallery’s material and conceptual exploration of the concept of fragility. Her unique ability to play with the raw strength of her material while allowing the viewer to see its fragile nature is what sets her apart. The material becomes so lightweight, so soft, that it appears to be levitating in space. 

Born in Paris in 1926, Claude de Soria discovered her calling in 1973, when she found a forgotten bag of cement in her backyard. Over time, she multiplied her experiments: various doses and qualities of cement powder, sand, fibre, water as well as all sorts of moulds and supports: glass, rhodoid, fabric, paper, leading to a variety of forms. 

In the words of art critic and writer Olivier Kaeppelin, who curated the exhibition D’âmes at Clavé Fine Art, “Claude de Soria abandons herself to a total availability, a laissez-faire attitude that she claims. She gives herself over to the material, trusting it, because she expects from it, not proficiency, but surprise, a sort of amazement over the space she opens up with surfaces, cells, and planets that inhabit it.

Her works can be found in various private and public collections and have been exhibited in many institutions: Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, Fondation Cartier, etc.