exhibitions
The Dora Maar Cultural Center provides year-long cultural programming at the historic Hôtel de Tingry.
HANGAMA AMIRI – THROUGH THE OBJECTS
June 27th – September 27th, 2025
The DMCC and the curator Frauke V. Josenhans were pleased to present the first exhibition of Afghan-Canadian artist Hangama Amiri in France. The exhibition at Hôtel de Tingry featured a series of recent works by the artist, highlighting her engagement with textiles to create images that evoke cultural memory and belonging. The exhibition Hangama Amiri: Through the objects explored the notion of “domestic objects”, and how their functional character and emotional weight blend, making them bearers of complex longings, while at the same time offering a way to put down new roots.
JOSEPH HAVEL – FANTÔMES
June 15th – November 24th, 2024
Known for his exploration of daily life, the American artist Joseph Havel seizes and transforms banal objects to reflect upon the construction of identity. Often turning to bronze, following the heavy legacy of the history of sculpture, he breathes new life into ordinary objects to deconstruct their layers of significance and symbols, and to draw up a poetry of the mundane.
For this exhibition titled Fantômes at the Hotel Tingry, Joseph Havel explored how one remembers, categorizes, records, and at times neglects or rejects, histories and cultures. As a response to the site which houses a rich library with hundreds of collected books, and whose hefty content was overlooked by its owner, Joseph Havel added cast books to the shelves, illuminated from behind, creating a new, enigmatic, glowing library. By focusing on books, which he recreates with polyurethane or bronze, he freezes time with his sculptures, producing ghosts of time past, of books left untouched or destroyed. He leaves only the object, stripped of its interior words, bare, standing like a timeless relic.
THE TEXTILE ODYSSEY
In the collection of Michel Biehn
Curated and staged by Jeanne Biehn
September 2nd – December 12th, 2023
Connoisseur of Provençal history and traditions, author of a thesis on the influence of India on Provence, former president of the Conservatory of Textile Heritage of Provence, passionate about the history of fashion and costumes—Michel Biehn’s extensive travels, begun at age 18, enabled him to build major collections of textiles and objects over some forty years. The Ariadne’s Thread of these collections—what they share—is the revelation and understanding of customs, specifically the norms of beauty linked to a particular time and context.
At the Hôtel Tingry, Jeanne Biehn presented the very first selection from the “Old World Costumes” collection, as her father called them. Her contemporary vision of the “Michel Biehn Collection” is distilled in the adjoining salons of this gigantic 17th-century mansion organized around a majestic stone staircase. Drawn from the largesse of Michel’s collections, some thirty pieces trace a distinctive trajectory that seems to have been dictated by the extraordinary setting where the works are displayed.
History
The Hôtel de Tingry, classified as a historic monument, was the personal residence of Nancy Brown Negley for about 13 years. The building was erected in the 18th century by Joseph Balthazard des Laurents, whose descendant, Éléonore Pulchérie des Laurents, married Charles François Christian Montmorency-Luxembourg, Prince of Tingry, who gave his name to the residence.
In 1781, the Count of Rantzau, captain of the king of Denmark, found refuge in these places and lived there until his death in 1789. Nancy Brown Negley bought the hotel in the 1990s and lived there until 2013, turning it into a place where curious minds could gather around an extensive library, a garden with breathtaking views of the Luberon, and welcoming spaces.
In 2020, Nancy Brown Negley donated the Hôtel de Tingry to the Mérimée Foundation and the Nancy B. Negley Association to become a hub for local cultural activities.
NANCY NEGLEY Story
Nancy Brown Negley lived a life of passion and commitment, touching many with her generosity and open spirit. The eldest daughter of George R. Brown, she grew up in Houston, Texas. She inherited from her father and her uncle Herman Brown their vision and daring to build and create. From her mother Alice Brown, Nancy inherited a passion for historic preservation and the arts.
Her personal practice as a painter gave her empathy for other artists, whom she supported both individually and through institutions. Many individual creative people were helped by her at a crucial moment in their careers, and the world we live in is richer in immeasurable ways.
When she could no longer travel to France, she wanted to cement her life’s mission to nurture the creative spirit. She donated her own home Hotel de Tingry and the Dora Maar House to a non-profit foundation which continues her life’s work.
