At the MAMCO in Geneva, at the MAC/VAL in Vitry-sur-Seine, at the Fontevraud Abbey, the works of Claude Lévêque were erased one by one. But the bluish lights of the 73-year-old artist suspected of child abuse still punctuate the walls of the Arthur Rimbaud Museum in Charleville-Mézières. In a column published on September 27 in the daily ReleaseJuliette Méadel, former Secretary of State for Victim Assistance, and child psychiatrists Maurice Corcos and Gérard Pirlot demand the immediate withdrawal of the work The Dial (2014) by Claude Lévêque “in the name of the help we owe to the memory of Rimbaud and to all child victims of rape”.
The publication follows an important step in the Claude Lévêque affair, with the announcement of his referral to the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental criminal court on September 10. The charges concern rape and sexual assault of minors aged 8 to 18 at the time of the events, which allegedly took place between 1989 and 2007. Claude Lévêque’s lawyers appealed the indictment order
From the first revelations of the investigation, in January 2021, several institutions and municipalities withdrew the artist’s works. The Rimbaud Museum is one of the last institutions to exhibit an installation by Claude Lévêque. For the signatories of the forum, who consider that Rimbaud himself suffered rape during his childhood, the case is particularly scandalous.
Claude Lévêque, The dialview of the installation at the Rimbaud Museum in Charleville-Mézières.
Although this hypothesis lacks tangible evidence, it benefits from the support of several specialists: “the great Rimbaudians have already underlined it, a whole range of arguments suggests that poetic impulses are linked to a detoxification of perverse contamination… at least ten texts (by Rimbaud) speak of rape”explains to Arts Journal Maurice Corcos, author of the essay Rimbaud, a raped adolescence (2016).
The child psychiatrist considers the presence of the work of a potential sexual predator within the museum route – a route, moreover, developed as a metaphor for Rimbaud’s life – not only indecent, but revealing of systemic complacency towards pedophilia. “Letting an artist suspected of being a pedophile immobilize the entire circuit with his blue light is not possible. Or at least, that’s debatable”.
For the authors of the column, the installation of Lévêque itself could now be read through this prism. Apparently, there is nothing provocative in this installation composed of “blue lights like channel signals”except to see the light of dawn, of the first ages of life, which would evoke a “dreamlike journey to a childish world”according to Juliette Méadel, interviewed by the JdA. An interpretation of which she admits the uncertainty, while alerting however to the need for awareness: “this blue light is as if it illuminates our blindness”.
It is above all on the symbolic field that the fight of the former Secretary of State is being played out, for whom it is important to respect the presumption of innocence. “We cannot replace justice. Asking an institution to suspend an exhibition is not a penal or vexatious measure. would like to clarify Juliette Méadel, who nevertheless calls for a “responsibility in the symbol”. In a context where child abuse scandals are increasing, the latter considers that the respect owed to the victims justifies, in this specific case, suspending the exhibition of the work, without this being akin to a measure of censorship: “the freedom of art does not force institutions to be blind”.
But the question addressed by the signatories of the forum goes beyond the Lévêque case and the Rimbaud Museum: “I spend my time taking care of Arthur Rimbaud. This case interests me because it is paradigmatic of violence against children”warns Maurice Corcos, adding that he would like, even if the installation of Lévêque is maintained, that the subject of sexual violence against minors be included in the museum discussion. And to denounce a form of omerta in the art world, which it supposes “in the know for many years”.
Since her appointment as Secretary of State for Victim Assistance, Juliette Méadel has made child protection her main focus, through a whole series of initiatives. The opposition elected official at Montrouge town hall notably mobilized for the removal of another work by Claude Lévêque, installed on the city’s belfry as part of the contemporary art festival “Le Jour d’après”. Illumination was canceled a few days later, but the town hall justified this choice by the context of the pandemic, which had led to the cancellation of the festival.
To date, the municipality of Charleville-Mézières does not plan to remove the work, a wall dial extended over two floors, citing the technical difficulties and the cost that its extraction from the historic wall of the building would represent. Questioned by the JdAthe assistant for culture at Charleville-Mézières town hall Nathalie Robcis however indicated that the name of Claude Lévêque had been removed from the museum’s website, and that her teams plan to remove his name from the cartel: “It’s going to be done, and it’s the least we can do” she assured. As for the light work, the possibility of turning it off is currently under discussion. “There are already a lot of burnt out bulbs that we are not replacing, and that we do not intend to replace”added the municipal councilor.
