BRIGITTE NAHON
Born in 1960 in Nice, France. Lives and works in Israel.
Brigitte NaHoN receives in 1973 the Drawing Prize in a group exhibition about ecology, organized by the City of Nice.
In 1976, she has a passion for contemporary dance and mountain hiking, and creates ephemeral installations in mountains, sometimes photographed then abandoned.
From 1980 to 1981, she studies Fine Arts at the University of Provence, Aix-en-Provence, and she receives the Painting Honour, Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.
Brigitte NaHoN discovers in 1983 direct carving sculptures on stone, thanks to a “Maître Ouvrier du Compagnonnage” (highly skilled worker), who is restoring the Aix-en-Provence cathedral. He gives her a block of stone and lends her his tools at night, in order to work.
She meets Bernard Pagès in 1984, thanks to the critic Jacques Lepage. She can work during two years in the artist’s studio in Pointe-de-Contes, Alpes-Maritimes. She obtains the Master of Fine Arts, Maîtrise d’Art Plastiques, University of Aix en Provence on the same year.
In 1985, she obtains the postmaster Diploma of Fine Arts, Sorbonne University, Paris, followed by a non viva voce thesis of Fine Arts, titled La passivité efficace dans la création plastique, directed by Professor René Passeron, director of CNRS (centre of research) in Aesthetics. She participates in symposiums on aesthetics, CNRS.
From 1987 to 1988, she works the sculpture during 6 months in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, creates three-dimensional fleeting installations which are photographed, made from elements found in the Judea desert.
She settles in Paris in 1988, and gets ardently involved in the life of the Usine Ephémère, and then of the Hôpital Ephémère until 1994. First exhibition in Paris at L’Usine Ephémère. She creates a large-scale outdoor work for the SEERI Company, Paris-La-Défense, and works the steel thanks to the sponsorship of Usinor-Sacilor company. She exhibits with Lawrence Weiner at the Gallery Bébert in Rotterdam.
In 1991, first monumental outdoor works made with Baccarat Crystal and corten steel, during the group exhibition Parcours Privés, invited by Adelina Von Fürstenberg in Paris, and at the Musée Carnavalet, in the Le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau courtyard, Paris, invited by les Affaires Culturelles de la ville de Paris. Personal exhibition at the Galerie de Marseille, and grant from the French Ministry of Culture, Aide à la création, D.R.A.C. Ile-de-France.
In 1992, first personal exhibition at the Abbaye Saint-André de Meymac, Contemporary Art Centre. She meets Odile Duboc and her dance company Contre-Jour. She is selected for the Summer ’92 Workshops, Villa Saint-Clair, Sète, and the artist creates her first sculptures with glass and water, shown at the Galerie Praz / Delavallade, Paris.
She receives a public commission for scenographic schemes for the D.R.A.C. Ile-de-France in 1993, and exhibits at the French Institute of Thessalonica. During this year, she searches and discovers the existence of a member of her family from Northern Greece, who escaped the Shoah and who is also a survivor from Auschwitz and the Death’s Marches, named Haïm Nahon. She receives the First Prize of sculpture at the Salon de Montrouge, France.
In 1994, she is the winner of the Villa Medicis “hors les murs’’ prize (United States); first meeting with Haïm Nahon’s family in Florida, where he lives.
She exhibits in Montreal, Canada, in Quartier Ephémère and settles in New York the same year.
She exhibits in 1995 Posyr Lirketche G, glass globes and water installation, “off” the Venice Biennial, Italy, invited by Marc Pottier, and the sculpture is shown during the exhibition Pop Up, in Socrates, the New York City sculptures park.
In 1996, first installation with threads, Walk on the Soho Side, at Yohji Yamamoto’s shop, New York, then personal exhibition, Pour vivre, at the French Institute of Tel-Aviv in 1997. She meets during the preview some members of her paternal family who ran away from Nazism, and whom she had never met before. First personal exhibition in a museum in Musée Zadkine, Paris; she creates her first monumental and permanent outdoor sculpture in 1998, settled in front of the main building of Electricité de France (EDF), in Saint-Denis, France.
In 1999, Revinniir Zagaizz, first personal exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris, and jointly, creates Le Passage, her biggest monumental sculpture, for Les Champs de la Sculpture II (1970 - 2000) on the Champs-Elysées, Paris. La fontaine aux roseaux d’argent, permanent sculpture - fountain is installed in the new medieval garden of the Musée National du Moyen-Age, Paris, in 2000. Equilibre, an outdoor permanent sculpture is installed in front of the new courthouse of the city of Avignon (Public Commission by the Ministry of Justice).
Exhibition Connecting Worlds: Contemporary Sculpture from the European Union, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington in 2001, and Brigitte NAHON, the first retrospective is organized at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, with an outdoor installation of Le Passage. Thanks to a competition, the Dancing Reeds work is installed in 2002 in the entrance of the new Progressive Insurance Inc. building in Cleveland, Ohio, her first permanent monumental sculpture in the USA.
Echelle de Vie, permanent sculpture, is installed in the entrance of the Center of Medical Research in the European Hospital Georges Pompidou, Paris. The same year, OPERA, exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris. In 2004, she creates her first self-portrait, a mural sculpture, Nous, shown during the exhibition of the 10th anniversary of the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Happy Birthday!
Third personal exhibition, À la vie!, at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont in 2005. The artist presents her first sculptures made exclusively from Baccarat cristal, along with the series Origin and LeHaim HaiaH regroup 45 drawings-paintings on paper. Furthermore for the first time she uses an industrial pulley in Alive.
Acquisition in 2006 of the sculpture Time Zero from The Jewish Museum of New York and exhibition Light X Eight : The Hannukah Project at The Jewish Museum of New York City.
Invited by Christophe Pasquet and the associaton of Point Ephémère, she discovers part of India and spends two months and a half as a resident in Tamil Nadu, a region hit hard by the 2004 tsunami. She meets the people of the village, the Intouchables. She chooses to denounce the social injustices of the castes throughout her work, notably thanks to the development of her concept of equilibrium, demonstrating the paradoxes of life and death she creates more than sixty sculptures in a guest room in the hotel resort where she works: NaHoN´s Room.
In 2008, she settles in Israel, where she gets back to her family.
Brigitte NaHoN receives in 1973 the Drawing Prize in a group exhibition about ecology, organized by the City of Nice.
In 1976, she has a passion for contemporary dance and mountain hiking, and creates ephemeral installations in mountains, sometimes photographed then abandoned.
From 1980 to 1981, she studies Fine Arts at the University of Provence, Aix-en-Provence, and she receives the Painting Honour, Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.
Brigitte NaHoN discovers in 1983 direct carving sculptures on stone, thanks to a “Maître Ouvrier du Compagnonnage” (highly skilled worker), who is restoring the Aix-en-Provence cathedral. He gives her a block of stone and lends her his tools at night, in order to work.
She meets Bernard Pagès in 1984, thanks to the critic Jacques Lepage. She can work during two years in the artist’s studio in Pointe-de-Contes, Alpes-Maritimes. She obtains the Master of Fine Arts, Maîtrise d’Art Plastiques, University of Aix en Provence on the same year.
In 1985, she obtains the postmaster Diploma of Fine Arts, Sorbonne University, Paris, followed by a non viva voce thesis of Fine Arts, titled La passivité efficace dans la création plastique, directed by Professor René Passeron, director of CNRS (centre of research) in Aesthetics. She participates in symposiums on aesthetics, CNRS.
From 1987 to 1988, she works the sculpture during 6 months in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, creates three-dimensional fleeting installations which are photographed, made from elements found in the Judea desert.
She settles in Paris in 1988, and gets ardently involved in the life of the Usine Ephémère, and then of the Hôpital Ephémère until 1994. First exhibition in Paris at L’Usine Ephémère. She creates a large-scale outdoor work for the SEERI Company, Paris-La-Défense, and works the steel thanks to the sponsorship of Usinor-Sacilor company. She exhibits with Lawrence Weiner at the Gallery Bébert in Rotterdam.
In 1991, first monumental outdoor works made with Baccarat Crystal and corten steel, during the group exhibition Parcours Privés, invited by Adelina Von Fürstenberg in Paris, and at the Musée Carnavalet, in the Le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau courtyard, Paris, invited by les Affaires Culturelles de la ville de Paris. Personal exhibition at the Galerie de Marseille, and grant from the French Ministry of Culture, Aide à la création, D.R.A.C. Ile-de-France.
In 1992, first personal exhibition at the Abbaye Saint-André de Meymac, Contemporary Art Centre. She meets Odile Duboc and her dance company Contre-Jour. She is selected for the Summer ’92 Workshops, Villa Saint-Clair, Sète, and the artist creates her first sculptures with glass and water, shown at the Galerie Praz / Delavallade, Paris.
She receives a public commission for scenographic schemes for the D.R.A.C. Ile-de-France in 1993, and exhibits at the French Institute of Thessalonica. During this year, she searches and discovers the existence of a member of her family from Northern Greece, who escaped the Shoah and who is also a survivor from Auschwitz and the Death’s Marches, named Haïm Nahon. She receives the First Prize of sculpture at the Salon de Montrouge, France.
In 1994, she is the winner of the Villa Medicis “hors les murs’’ prize (United States); first meeting with Haïm Nahon’s family in Florida, where he lives.
She exhibits in Montreal, Canada, in Quartier Ephémère and settles in New York the same year.
She exhibits in 1995 Posyr Lirketche G, glass globes and water installation, “off” the Venice Biennial, Italy, invited by Marc Pottier, and the sculpture is shown during the exhibition Pop Up, in Socrates, the New York City sculptures park.
In 1996, first installation with threads, Walk on the Soho Side, at Yohji Yamamoto’s shop, New York, then personal exhibition, Pour vivre, at the French Institute of Tel-Aviv in 1997. She meets during the preview some members of her paternal family who ran away from Nazism, and whom she had never met before. First personal exhibition in a museum in Musée Zadkine, Paris; she creates her first monumental and permanent outdoor sculpture in 1998, settled in front of the main building of Electricité de France (EDF), in Saint-Denis, France.
In 1999, Revinniir Zagaizz, first personal exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris, and jointly, creates Le Passage, her biggest monumental sculpture, for Les Champs de la Sculpture II (1970 - 2000) on the Champs-Elysées, Paris. La fontaine aux roseaux d’argent, permanent sculpture - fountain is installed in the new medieval garden of the Musée National du Moyen-Age, Paris, in 2000. Equilibre, an outdoor permanent sculpture is installed in front of the new courthouse of the city of Avignon (Public Commission by the Ministry of Justice).
Exhibition Connecting Worlds: Contemporary Sculpture from the European Union, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington in 2001, and Brigitte NAHON, the first retrospective is organized at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, with an outdoor installation of Le Passage. Thanks to a competition, the Dancing Reeds work is installed in 2002 in the entrance of the new Progressive Insurance Inc. building in Cleveland, Ohio, her first permanent monumental sculpture in the USA.
Echelle de Vie, permanent sculpture, is installed in the entrance of the Center of Medical Research in the European Hospital Georges Pompidou, Paris. The same year, OPERA, exhibition at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris. In 2004, she creates her first self-portrait, a mural sculpture, Nous, shown during the exhibition of the 10th anniversary of the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Happy Birthday!
Third personal exhibition, À la vie!, at the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont in 2005. The artist presents her first sculptures made exclusively from Baccarat cristal, along with the series Origin and LeHaim HaiaH regroup 45 drawings-paintings on paper. Furthermore for the first time she uses an industrial pulley in Alive.
Acquisition in 2006 of the sculpture Time Zero from The Jewish Museum of New York and exhibition Light X Eight : The Hannukah Project at The Jewish Museum of New York City.
Invited by Christophe Pasquet and the associaton of Point Ephémère, she discovers part of India and spends two months and a half as a resident in Tamil Nadu, a region hit hard by the 2004 tsunami. She meets the people of the village, the Intouchables. She chooses to denounce the social injustices of the castes throughout her work, notably thanks to the development of her concept of equilibrium, demonstrating the paradoxes of life and death she creates more than sixty sculptures in a guest room in the hotel resort where she works: NaHoN´s Room.
In 2008, she settles in Israel, where she gets back to her family.
