Aquarelles d’Inès Wagner. Visages et costumes en transparence

This unprecedented retrospective invites you to delve into the heart of Inès Wagner's creative process and to explore more than fifty years of a rich and distinctive body of work. Drawn from the artist's studio archive, most of the pieces on show are being revealed to the public for the first time, offering a rare insight into her aesthetic world and her favourite subjects.

Trained at the Arts Décoratifs in the 1940s, Inès Wagner pursued a varied career spanning press illustration, the visual arts and the stage. Her path took a decisive turn when she designed the costumes for Barabli, the Strasbourg stage, for some forty productions. Her delicate line and her virtuoso handling of watercolour, all transparency and nuance, make her a sensitive observer of humanity, attentive to faces as much as to attire.

Across a journey in five sections, the exhibition offers a lively walk through the major stages of her career. From her beginnings in illustration to sketches of costumes and sets, via the faces of costumed Alsace and historic Strasbourg, the artist weaves a dialogue between tradition and modernity. A detour through her works on gold leaf and her tapestries also reveals the breadth of her artistic experiments.

Renowned for her evanescent, colourful watercolours, Inès Wagner gives a fresh, contemporary take on Alsatian costume. Fashions, fabrics, finery and poses unfold under her fluid brush, forming a unique retrospective in which every era and every elegance meets.