"I am deeply honored to be the curator and scenographer of the exhibition « MYTHES » a dialogue between works from Antiquity and those of
d'Aristide Maillol, in collaboration with Galerie Chenel and Galerie Dina Vierny. At the Collège des Bernardins, Paris 6th. Exhibition open to the public from October 20th to 24th, 2025. The exhibition will continue in both galleries, from Thursday, October 30th to Saturday, December 20th." - Simon Porte Jacquemus
Simon Porte Jacquemus’ first major curatorial undertaking, in collaboration with Galerie Chenel and Galerie Dina
Vierny, orchestrates a dialogue between the antique, the sculpted, and the everyday. This undertaking reveals a shared
mythic resonance of line, volume, and human presence. It is a conversation across time: from the terracotta and
marble of Olympia that inspired Maillol, to his small-scale bronzes, to the geometric folds of Jacquemus’ garments.
In each is both allegory and monument. The continuity is palpable: the antique informs Maillol, and Maillol, in
turn, informs Simon Porte Jacquemus’ work.
At the heart of it all lies antique sculpture, the inexhaustible point of origin. These marbles have given to generations
a language of measure. They are the discipline through which nature could be distilled into myth and for Simon
Porte Jacquemus, they are the geometry that underpins the poise of a silhouette.
Aristide Maillol devoted his life to the pursuit of harmony, transforming nature into myth to reaffirm the poetry and
vitality of earthly existence. A fervent admirer of the ancients, he drew on Egyptian art, archaic and classical Greek
sculpture, yet always sought to create ex nihilo. His nudes are pared to essentials, stocky Mediterranean figures, short-
waisted, upstanding breasts, powerful hips, smoothed with a keen sense of measure and stasis. A serene classicism
touched with rustic vitality. Like Maillol, Simon Porte Jacquemus unites to the virtue of a classic the innocence of a
primitive.
Both find in the antique not nostalgia but a structure for invention, a base upon which to build their own new
mythologies. The antique gave Maillol a discipline, a way of returning the human figure to its most enduring
proportions. In Jacquemus, the echo is subtler but no less insistent: his garments draw on the same economy of line,
showing that simplicity, when rightly measured, can embody the whole of elegance just as Polykleitos’ canon once
inscribed it in stone.
This attention to geometry, to the harmony of human presence and elemental form, finds a renewed expression in
Simon Porte Jacquemus. His garments too are sculptural, architectural even, folded and draped with the same careful
eye the masters of antiquity and Maillol trained on the human body. « Le paysan », the model of the countryside,
recurs in both: in Porte Jacquemus’ fashion, with his deceptively simple clothing; in Maillol’s studio in the physical
type he sought to eternalize. It is within the exhibition’s scenography, staged as a sequence of evocative and poetic
daily-life scenes, that these affinities unfold, lending the continuity of figures and gesture a living, almost cinematic
intimacy.
About Jacquemus
Jacquemus was founded by Simon Porte Jacquemus in 2009 in Paris, France.
Dedicated to the memory of the designer’s late mother, the brand draws inspiration from a passion for culture.
The Jacquemus ready-to-wear and accessories collections for men and women reference the French way of life and
universal gestures of beauty, encompassing influences from fine art photography to decorative arts, cinema, painting,
and sculpture.
Throughout the years, Jacquemus has staged runway productions in unique and unexpected locations, including a
Parisian swimming pool, the Musée Picasso, a lavender field in Provence, a wheat field outside Paris, a salt marsh in
the Camargue, and a beach in Hawaii. More recently, the brand has embraced settings such as the canal of the Château
de Versailles (Le Chouchou), the Fondation Maeght (Les Sculptures), Casa Malaparte (La Casa) and Auguste Perret’s
Parisian apartment (La Croisière).
Based in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, Jacquemus is an independent fashion house with over 300 employees.
Renowned for its fast-growing digital presence and its worldwide business spread, the brand has created innovative
retail experiences around the world before opening its first permanent store at 58 Avenue Montaigne in Paris in 2022.
Following this milestone, international boutiques have opened in Dubai, Seoul, New York (SoHo), Los Angeles
(West Hollywood) and London (New Bond Street).
About Galerie Chenel
Gallery Chenel is primarily a family story and a passion for sculpture and archaeology, with a particular attachment
to Ancient Rome. Since 1999, located on Quai Voltaire, it has been presenting its works in a contemporary setting
designed as a showcase. Each object is carefully selected for its beauty, quality, and provenance, in order to convey the
full force and emotion of its history.
Classical sculpture has always inspired artists: Aristide Maillol, by rediscovering the purity of ancient forms, as well
as fashion designers, fascinated by the elegance of drapery and the harmony of silhouettes. This precious heritage
continues to inspire creation today.
Present at major international fairs such as Frieze Masters in London, TEFAF in Maastricht, and New York, the
gallery caters to collectors, curators, and enthusiasts seeking w
orks selected with confidence.
About Galerie Dina Vierny
Founded in 1947 by Dina Vierny, the last muse of Aristide Maillol, the Galerie Dina Vierny has been based since its
inception at 36 rue Jacob, in an interior designed by Auguste Perret that remains intact to this day. In 2025, a second
space opened at 53 rue de Seine, conceived in a resolutely contemporary spirit.
With the arrival of the third generation in 2021, the gallery continues this family legacy through an active program of
ambitious exhibitions in France and internationally, as well as publications and catalogues raisonnés that further the
recognition and dissemination of the artists it represents.
The gallery is committed to championing the great masters of modernity and the avant-garde—from Maillol to
Matisse, Duchamp, Poliakoff, Robert Couturier, Germaine Richier, and Judit Reigl—while also supporting
contemporary creation with artists such as Marcella Barceló. This commitment places Galerie Dina Vierny in a
singular position: at the crossroads of history and the present, in a constant dialogue between heritage and living art.
