In the Study Gallery

Trompe-l’œil. Imitations, pastiches et autres illusions
2 Feburary 2012–November 2013

Plaque murale en forme de cage à oiseau recouverte d’une tente verte, Delft, vers 1780

Faïence de grand feu
© Les Arts Décoratifs / Photo : Jean Tholance

In the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ Study Gallery the public can discover the wealth of its collections via selections of rarely or never previously shown works from its storerooms, shown for an 18-month period. Trompe-l’oeil, as its name indicates, is meant to trick the eye, and originated in painting, in which the illusion created by a painted object relies heavily on perspective and chiaroscuro.

In decorative art, this ‘trickery of the eye’ took very diverse forms. Wallpapers, for instance, proved ideal for this form of expression. From the most modest to the most sumptuous, they all imitate materials: wood, lacquer, tiles, straw, velvet, and even framed pictures. Many imitations were of course done for economic reasons, and in this game of substitutes, one sees that for centuries many materials have been imitated by others: marbled ceramics imitating jasper, glazed ceramics imitating porphyry or gold, paste imitating the diamond, linoleum floorboards, and so on. This game of illusions evolved in the 19^th century, when, historicism oblige, it was not only materials that were imitated but motifs too. Owen Jones’ famous The Grammar of Ornament, like its French equivalent, Albert Racinet’s l’Ornement polychrome, provided numerous medieval and Moorish motifs for 19^th-century creators.
Fashion was no exception and became the theatre of the most outrageous illusions. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, wigs, tournures and faux-cul were worn to give false impressions. In the 20^th century, illusion focussed less on form than on the fabric itself, with the appearance of false wears and tears, false pockets, false buttons, etc. Like a treasure hunt traversing centuries and materials, this exhibition invites us into the great game of illusion or the ‘vertigo of imitation’.

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In the Contemporary Space

Un peu de terre sur la peau. Bijoux contemporains en céramique
15 March–19 August 2012

Peter Hoogeboom, bracelet Satanic cuff, 1996

Porcelaine, argent, soie
Collection Helen Drutt, Philadelphia (USA)
© photo : Henni van Beek

Unlike traditional jewellery, the traditional craft of the goldsmith, since the 1970s contemporary jewellery has become a field of experimentation at the frontiers of art, design and the artistic crafts. In this exhibition, eighteen French, Swiss, German, Finnish, Swedish and Taiwanese, artists are proposing a new and personal vision in their work. Although some pieces were conceived in reference to the history of jewellery, they can be made with the most diverse materials, using every possible assemblage process, in function of the techniques, symbols and the culture during a given period. This exhibition, conceived by the Fondation Bernardaud, is being shown in the museum’s Contemporary Space.

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In the Toy Gallery

Les histoires de Babar
8 December 2011–2 September 2012

Babar, now king of the elephants and still wearing his ‘nice green suit’, has remained one of the most popular heroes of children’s literature, with children and of course their nostalgic parents and grandparents. The Arts Décoratifs’ Toy Gallery is celebrating the eightieth anniversary of Babar. The exhibition retraces the adventures of this hero of children’s literature since his creation in 1931. All the Babar books will be shown, with a selection of a hundred original drawings lent by prestigious French and foreign institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Morgan Library and the Mary Ryan Gallery in New York, and also private collectors. Visitors will be able to see Babar adventures taking shape before their eyes, from the initial sketches through to the final coloured pages with text. Soft toys, board games, figurines, wheeled toys will be set in Babar decors including one from the famous Normandie liner, interspersed with archive photographs, present-day Babar products, cartoons and 3D films. This anniversary also pays tribute to Babar’s creators, Jean de Brunhoff and his son Laurent de Brunhoff who continued his father’s work from 1941.

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Fashion and Textile

Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs
9 March–16 september 2012

Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs

© DR

This exhibition tells the stories of two men, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs (artistic director of LV), and will highlight their contributions to the fashion world. How did they succeed in taking the pulse of their respective periods to innovate and take an entire industry forward? How did these two personalities, each with their own language, appropriate cultural phenomena and codes to write the history of contemporary fashion? An analysis rather than a retrospective, this parallel Vuitton-Jacobs comparison will provide new insight into the fashion system during its pivotal periods, beginning with its industrialisation and ending with its globalisation, focussing also on its artistic professions and crafts, technological advances, stylistic creations and artistic collaborations. It will also be homecoming for Louis Vuitton, who set up shop only a stone’s throw from the Louvre, the home of his first great patron, Empress Eugénie. Over a century separates Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs, but both come together in the excellence of their creativity.

Download the Louis Vuiton - Marc Jacob’s exhibition visit guide

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Ricard^SA, depuis 1932
29 March–26 August 2012

5 volumes d’eau, Henri Couve, vers 1958

Imprimerie Ricard
Lithographie couleur
© DR

Les Arts Décoratifs is celebrating the 80^th anniversary of Ricard. Instead of a retrospective, it deciphers the brand like a case study, comparing it, analysing it, and identifying all its key characteristics. Unlike other apéritifs, no single artist’s name is associated with the Ricard posters, like Charles Loupot is with Saint Raphaël and Cassandre with Dubonnet. Nor is there an emblematic character or animal, like Cappiello’s zebra for Cinzano. Questioning the company’s actors and its archives, the exhibition retraces the advertising campaigns that have marked its history with their themes, choice of colours, design, also studying the creations of the company’s ceramics studio and the brand’s communication strategies.

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