Outsider Art, the thread of life for Christine Magne
Although discreet, Christine Magne is well known in the Outsider Art community. This autumn, she revealed a new facet of her personality to the public: she’s not just an art activist and collector, she’s been drawing all her life and took her first steps as an artist.
Despite missed rendezvous, art prevails at last
In her final year of high school, her art teacher advised her to try the Beaux-Arts. But life turned her away from art and led her down a more conventional career, where she sought to exercise her creativity in other ways.
Her personal life also turned her away from art, but after her divorce, she returned to her love of artistic creation. With a free spirit, Christine Magne naturally turned her attention to museums, galleries and Outsider Art festivals, and began a personal collection. In Dijon (Burgundy), she was attracted by a work: “La Vie”, by Abdellaziz Ladhari. The door to Outsider Art was opened.
With Sophie Lepetit (Les Grigris de Sophie, “art blogger and influencer” as we say today), Christine only shared two school years in primary school, but their friendship has stood the test of time. Sophie convinced Christine to take up social networking to share her passion with those who don’t have the opportunity to visit art exhibitions.
Tireless art activist
Beyond her personal collection, Christine Magne enjoys sharing and transmitting. Little by little, she has built up an extensive network: her Facebook page, where she provides information, her involvement in a number of events dedicated to contemporary art, such as La Biennale 109 at the Bastille Design Center, and her federative initiative around Amabiés at the time of the covid-19 pandemic, ensure her unfailing notoriety.
In 2020, during the shutdown, she launched the Amabiés movement in France among Outsider artists, as in Japan and Italy, relayed on the blog of her childhood friend Sophie Lepetit.
The Japanese mythological creature, with three legs, covered in fish scales, a beak and long hair, came from the sea and is said to have appeared during a terrible epidemy. According to popular prophecy, whoever draws the creature will be cured. Outsider artists answer her call. Christine received hundreds of works. To immortalize this great mobilization, a selection of over 300 works was published in a special edition of Trakt magazine, now a collector’s item.
When Christine Magne visits a fair such as Art Capita Paris, she spares no effort and provides photo coverage to inspire people to attend, or to satisfy the curiosity of those who can’t make the trip.
The art activist is also an artist
During periods of intense professional activity, Christine Magne had episodes of drawing mania. Since 2023, retirement has given her time to devote to painting. Artist Patricia Berquin, leader of the Salon d’Automne’s Mythes et Singularités group, encouraged her to apply. And so, in October 2024, Christine’s first works became visible to the general public. Her work is remarkable and stands out on the wall!
Her bright, cheerful palette and expressive faces inspire warmth and humanity. Her dreamlike, symbolic universe highlights nature, femininity and the cycle of life, under the sign of protection, transmission and continuity between generations.
An emerging Outsider artist to be followed! Artistes Actuels presents ten unpublished drawings by Christine Magne on the online gallery.
The editorial team
The thrill of artistic discoveries