Research on a work or an archive
Artwork files
In addition to the library, the Art Museum's documentation service offers researchers access to 20,000 files on works and artists.
Each work conserved at the museum has its own dossier. It traces the history of the work (acquisition, restoration, etc.) and provides a documentary summary (bibliography, articles, analogies, etc.). Each artist in the collection also has an artist file.
Special archive collections
Archives of artists and enthusiasts who contributed to the entry of certain works into the museum's collection are also preserved:
- Rodolphe Bresdin: 19th-century engraver and draughtsman.
- Maurice Baudet: Portrait photographer from Nantes in the early 20th century.
- Gildas Fardel - La DIAC: Art lover and collector of the 20th century.
- Anne Dehez: Art lover and collector from the 20th century.
- Camille Bryen: Painter and engraver from Nantes.
- Robert Filliou and Joachim Pfeufer, artists.
Rodolphe Bresdin archives
Rodolphe Bresdin
Montrelais, 1822 - Sèvres, 1885
The museum holds 62 works by Rodolphe Bresdin. The majority of these were acquired from the artist's great-granddaughter, Lydia Gallico-Bresdin.
The archive consists of documents donated to the Musée d'arts de Nantes by Lydia Gallico-Bresdin.
The collection contains :
- brief correspondence between Lydia Gallico-Bresdin and galleries and museums concerning the promotion of Rodolphe Bresdin and the sale of works from his personal collection,
- ongoing correspondence from the now defunct Association des Amis de Rodolphe Bresdin, of which Lydia Gallico-Bresdin was a member,
- administrative documents on the organization and exhibitions of the association from 1996-1999,
- photographs of works by the artist from the Lydia Gallico-Bresdin collection,
- some exhibition catalogs, magazines and press extracts.
See online
François and Pierre Cacault archives
François Cacault
Nantes, 1743 - Clisson, 1805
Pierre Cacault
Nantes, 1744 - Clisson, 1810
Acquired in 1810 by the City of Nantes in exchange for a life annuity, the Cacault brothers' collection represents the major part of the museum's collection of ancient art.
1,155 paintings, 64 sculptures and 134 volumes of engravings (a total of 10,646 engravings) classified by school (in line with the Cacault brothers' original wish to found a major school-museum) entered the Nantes city collections in 1810.
The archive includes the original Cacault inventories:
- Two inventories of the collection presented in Clisson, an inventory under the direction of François Cacault (before 1806) and an inventory by Pierre Cacault (before 1808);
- An estimated inventory of the collection drawn up by Fournier (November 1808).
See online :
Maurice Baudet archive
Maurice Baudet
Paris, 1888 - Nantes, 1988
The museum holds a large collection of photographs by Nantes-based portraitist Maurice Baudet, following a gift from the artist in 1985.
The Baudet archive consists of 8 diaries (1941 to 1945, 1948, 1953 and 1957) and 6 alphabetical directories of the people he photographed from 1912 to 1981.
See online :
DIAC - Documentation Internationale Art Contemporain - Fonds d'archives Gildas Fardel
Gildas Fardel
Vannes, 1906 - Paris, 1997
Gildas Fardel (1906-1997), art lover and friend of Nina Kandinsky, donated part of his collection to the museum between 1958 and 1989. Thanks to his generosity, 183 works by 106 artists entered the museum's collection.
At the same time, in 1964, this passionate collector donated a large collection of documents: the DIAC (Documentation internationale art contemporain). Today, the DIAC comprises over 20,000 files classified by artist name and exhibition venue, for an estimated total of 150,000 documents. They mainly contain exhibition catalogs and cards, as well as press articles reflecting, in Gildas Fardel's words, "art news from day to day".
The collection was given its own dedicated room in the museum in 1964. In 1968, a documentation center was inaugurated within the museum library.
See online :
Anne Dehez archive
Anne Dehez
Paris, 1905 - Paris, 1988
Anne Dehez, English teacher, art lover and collector, donated and bequeathed 268 works by 105 artists to the museum in 1978 and 1988.
The adjoining archive consists of :
- archives accompanying the donation,
- correspondence,
- an address book,
- translation work.
See online :
Camille Bryen archive
Camille Bryen
Nantes, 1907 - Paris, 1972
Nantes-born painter Camille Bryen entered the Musée d'arts de Nantes collection with Différent Ciel (1963), acquired in 1965. Other works were added to the collection between 1969 and 1981.
In 1987, Louysette Bryen bequeathed her husband Camille Bryen's studio collection to the Fondation de France. The collection includes paintings, drawings and a large number of prints, etchings, lithographs and books written or illustrated by the artist.
The Fondation Camille Bryen, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, has deposited a large part of this studio collection with the museum. A database subsidized by the Fondation de France, the Bryenoscope, was also created in 2012.
See online :
Robert Filliou and Joachim Pfeufer archives
Robert Filliou
Sauve, 1926 - Ezyes, 1987
Joachim Pfeufer
Boston (USA), 1935 - Nantes, 2021
The Musée d'arts de Nantes holds 3 works by Robert Filliou and Joachim Pfeufer.
Robert Filiou is a singular artist. Trained as an economist and self-taught, he was a free electron in avant-garde circles from the 1960s onwards. There, he rubbed shoulders with the members of Fluxus, with whom he shared the ideal of art mixed with life. With Joachim Pfeufer, who lives in Nantes, where he was a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1977 to 2003, they formed an artist duo in the 1960s and co-founded the Poïpoïdrome, a permanent creative center designed as a place of exchange.
The museum holds the Poïpoïdrome archives, acquired in 2003. This documentation of their work since the 1960s includes :
- correspondence,
- drawings and plans,
- exhibition photographs,
- travelogues in dogon country
