Without a director since January 2023, the Mathurin-Méheut Museum in Lamballe will now be directed by Elisabeth Renault. The new director was chosen for “his knowledge of the territory and his management skills”explains Geoffroy De Longuemar, vice-president of the museum. The Breton curator was director of the Museum of Art and History of Saint-Brieuc, and has chaired the Bretagne Musées association since 2020.
The new director will have a dual role: she will be responsible for the administrative and scientific management of the museum, two previously separate functions. Elisabeth Renault’s appointment comes after the successive departures of the former director and the former curator, both of whom left in a hurry.
In June 2022, Christelle Schweitzer resigned from the management of the museum six months after its reopening, wishing to devote herself to other activities. Mylène Allano, former curator, was suspended in March 2023 for “serious misconduct”, without the reasons for dismissal being specified. The museum has since been managed by Geoffroy de Longuemar and Thierry Gauvrit, both vice-presidents of the General Interest Group (GIP) which runs the museum.
The Mathurin-Méheut Museum was created in 1972 by the Association of Friends of Mathurin Méheut shortly after the death of the painter who gave his name to the place, originally from Lamballe. Since 2014, a GIP has been created to manage the museum, bringing together the association of friends, the city of Lamballe, its agglomeration and the department of Côtes-d’Armor. The old half-timbered house that houses the museum has been renovated and given an extension, opening in 2022.
