After decades of silence, the French town of Étampes is finally paying tribute to Nathalie Gobin (1964-1992), a talented artist who honed her craft in the workshop of Philippe Lejeune (1924-2014). Following similar honors in Bourges where she was born, Étampes is now proudly displaying her paintings, celebrating her talent and honoring the memory of their 'shooting star' who died so young.
"This is the first time we are hosting an exhibition dedicated to this emblematic artist of the Étampes school at the Anne-de-Pisseleu hotel," emphasized Aurore Dallérac, director of the Museum and Heritage Department for the Étampois region's art and history program. The exhibition marks a significant moment for the community, as Gobin's work had remained largely unseen by the public for three decades.
The prolonged silence surrounding Gobin's artistic legacy stemmed from both her tragic death and the subsequent 'disappearance' of her works. Her parents kept all her paintings in their Bourges home until their own deaths - her father in 2016 and her mother in 2023. "It was their way of keeping Nathalie with them," Vincent Gobin, her brother, had confided on the eve of an auction organized on March 15 in Bourges.
The renewed interest in Gobin's work began in 2022 when Thomas Crosnier, curator of collections at the Étampes intercommunal museum, contacted Catherine Poncioux, Nathalie's sister, while preparing an exhibition about painters from the Étampes school. This contact was made in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Vigne workshop, of which Gobin had been a part.
"She put me in touch with Vincent," Crosnier reported. "We met for the first time on June 21, 2024. He arrived with a complete inventory. He wanted to promote his sister's work and was looking for ways to do it." This meeting proved to be the catalyst for bringing Gobin's artistic legacy back into the public eye, allowing both Bourges and Étampes to finally celebrate the talent of an artist whose promising career was cut tragically short.
