Enormement Bizarre - Collection Jean Chatelus

This bilingual book was published on the occasion of the bequest of the Jean Chatelus Collection to the Antoine de Galbert Foundation and its subsequent donation to the Musee National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou. It is published following the eponymous exhibition at the Centre Pompidou from March to June 2025. The contemporary cabinet of curiosities formed by the singular collection assembled by Jean Chatelus (1939-2021) throughout his life includes sculptures, installations, paintings, photographs, and drawings by some of the greatest figures of the 20th century, as well as works by outsider artists and "enfants terribles." It also features pieces of non-Western art and objects from popular traditions, reflecting diverse aesthetics and voices, as well as the collector's obsessions with themes such as the body, the fleeting nature of life, ruin and organic decay, the forbidden, and the apocalyptic specter. "Enormement bizarre"-these are the words artist Wim Delvoye chose to describe the astonishing collection amassed by Jean Chatelus (1939-2021) in his Parisian apartments from the late 1960s onward. From the bedroom to the garage, this book opens the doors to his contemporary cabinet of curiosities-at once meticulous and demanding, yet unsettling and provocative. Here, works by Cindy Sherman, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Mike Kelley, Yayoi Kusama, Christian Boltanski, and Gina Pane stand alongside Komo masks and religious kitsch. More than 600 works and documents-including sculptures, installations, paintings, photographs, drawings, votive and vernacular objects-bear witness to the collector's fixations: the tormented body, the poetics of ruin, death, the organic and its decay, the apocalyptic specter, the forbidden, religion and its blasphemy. Enriched with artwork descriptions, critical texts, and personal accounts, this book documents the collection and pays tribute to the unwavering dedication of its creator.