A poetic exploration of form, proportion, and timeless beauty unfolds in Paris
Simon Porte Jacquemus presents his first major curatorial project, a collaboration with Galerie Chenel and Galerie Dina Vierny that creates a dialogue between the antique, the sculptural, and the contemporary. The exhibition unfolds as a meditation on form, proportion, and human presence, linking classical sculpture, the works of Aristide Maillol, and Jacquemus’ own minimalist design language.
The exhibition explores how the purity of line and harmony of volume transcend time — from the terracotta and marble of Olympia that inspired Maillol, to his small-scale bronzes, and onward to the architectural silhouettes of Jacquemus’ garments. Each era informs the next: the antique inspires Maillol, and Maillol, in turn, informs Jacquemus.
At its heart lies antique sculpture, the enduring source of measure and myth. For Jacquemus, these marbles represent geometry in its purest form — the balance between structure and softness that defines his approach to fashion. Maillol’s devotion to the human figure and his pursuit of serenity through proportion find a contemporary echo in Jacquemus’ own sculptural silhouettes, where the line between art and garment blurs.
The scenography presents a sequence of intimate, cinematic tableaux — scenes of daily life infused with poetic simplicity. Within them, the affinities between ancient sculpture, Maillol’s nudes, and Jacquemus’ work emerge as living gestures of continuity. Both Maillol and Jacquemus reinterpret the classical ideal not as nostalgia but as a framework for invention, a means of grounding the modern in the timeless.
The exhibition opens at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris from October 20 to 24, 2025, before continuing at Galerie Chenel and Galerie Dina Vierny from October 30 to December 20, 2025.
