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Abraham de Amézaga
Sábado, 28 de diciembre 2024, 18:20
Five years before Pei's glass pyramid was inaugurated to provide access to the Louvre Museum on the outskirts of Paris, a name synonymous with diamonds and other precious stones, the king of jewellers and at the same time jeweller to kings, launched a non-profit entity. We refer to the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in the French capital. It was October 1984, and whether knowingly or not, executive Alain-Dominique Perrin would revolutionise the artistic and cultural landscape.
The entity was founded on three principles, which remain in place today. The first was that there should be no interference between the Cartier brand and the Foundation, with both being completely independent. The second principle has focused over these 40 years on both French and foreign artists. "We help them, exhibit them, and purchase much of their work," stated the president, the first major patron in the luxury universe of the late 20th century.
Perrin has not been alone in this venture. The renowned architect Jean Nouvel has accompanied him, especially since 1994, when the Foundation was located in the French capital, in the Montparnasse district. He asked Nouvel "to create a monument of Paris; and he succeeded." A minimalist, impactful, glass construction of several storeys, a must-see for art lovers.
By 2025, the Foundation will move its headquarters to a gigantic Haussmann-style building, whose interior is now being completely transformed by Nouvel. It boasts 8,500 square metres of space, of which 6,500 will be for exhibitions; next to the Louvre, the world's most visited museum.
Inside the building, five innovative platforms will reign, capable of supporting a tonne per square metre for artists and decorators, something unheard of in current exhibition centres. There will be a play of lights, between the artificial ones inside and the natural ones outside. Additionally, it will feature a restaurant, auditorium, and bookstore, being neighbours to other cultural entities, such as the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Comédie Française, the Pinault Collection, and the Opéra Garnier.
With a 150-metre-long façade, the size of the Pompidou's, it is part of the French national heritage and respects its original appearance. The interior architecture, on the other hand, completely metamorphoses the space that was once a hotel and the headquarters of the city's antique dealers. An exterior that does not announce the surprise that the interior holds. As Jean Nouvel puts it, "architecture, like art, is always a surprise; one must perpetually cultivate mystery."
In these four decades, the Foundation has presented over 300 exhibitions in France and abroad, a collection of 4,500 works by 500 artists from 50 countries, and published more than 200 books. These are just some of the numerous figures that could be drawn from the activity of a contemporary art centre that has been a must-visit in the French capital for decades due to its programming and interesting exhibitions. Like the first retrospective in Europe of Colombian Olga de Amaral (until 16 March 2025), now proposed in the building erected three decades ago.
While awaiting the completion of the new building, an anniversary book has been published, 'Voir venir Venir voir' (See Coming Coming See). It is a review of 40 years through photographs and interesting texts, where philosopher Emanuele Coccia delves into the rich artistic programming. At the end of next year, when the new space opens, the inaugural exhibition will be that of the Cartier Foundation's collection, a selection of its rich holdings.
Dominique Perrin was the first name in luxury to embrace art. Following in his footsteps were the Loewe Foundation, in the field of music and poetry; the Louis Vuitton Foundation, with its museum... But that is another story. If Salvador Dalí was the first major artist to collaborate with a fashion creator, as in the case of Elsa Schiaparelli, Cartier was the first 'maison' to establish an independent institution that promotes and disseminates the work of contemporary artists.
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