For the exhibition “Women in Abstraction” over 500 works by more than 100 artists will cover 2,000 square feet of space at the famous Parisian complex.
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With the support of La Prairie, Centre Pompidou is presenting its first major exhibition dedicated to women artists. Called “Women in Abstraction,” the show has nearly 110 international female artists participating as full- edged co-creators of modernism and its development.
“Revisiting the history of abstraction is first and foremost to enable women artists to take their rightful place in it,” says Christine Macel, Centre Pompidou’s general curator. She and Karolina Lewandowska, who is the associate curator of photography, are the organizers of the massive event that bills itself as an “original re-reading of the history of abstraction from its origins to the 1980s.”
An art historian and critic, Macel has curated numerous exhibitions. She is also currently head of the Contemporary and Foresight Creation Department at the Mnam-Centre Pompidou, and was artistic director of the Venice Art Biennale “Viva Arte Viva” in 2017.
Macel continues to explain that the purpose of the show is “to rethink abstraction beyond painting, through various expressions that contributed to its emergence, namely the spiritual, science, decorative arts and dance,” she says. “Last but not least, it is to go beyond the Western canon to include other definitions related to different cultural areas. ”
Art empowerment
“Women in Abstraction” launched in May 19 and will run through August 23 in a 2,000-square meter exhibition space. It will include more than 500 works of women artists in chronological display, combining plastic arts, dance, photography, and decorative arts, among others.
Centre Pompidou has been a place deeply rooted in its home city of Paris since 1977. Its emblematic building houses the richest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, one of the two largest in the world, as well as exhibitions, conferences, festivals, theaters, cinemas, or workshops for young audiences.
It attracts more than 3.5 million visitors every year. With a desire to make culture and creation accessible to as many people as possible, the Centre is developing its presence internationally through event such as “Women in Abstraction.”
This current show wants to give the works of women artists that are sorely lacking in visibility and recognition beyond the borders of their home countries. The careful selection of the artists are the result of several years of research, identifying women who are key figures of history yet remain largely unknown.
Supporting artists
Similarly, art and women empowerment has been deeply rooted in La Prairie’s identity since it started in 1978.
This is a commitment that continues to prosper beyond the brand’s existing partnerships with the Art Basel contemporary art fairs, West Bund Art & Design, Frieze art fairs, the FIAC and its sponsorship of the iconic Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland.
Providing support to women in the world of art is a way for the luxury beauty brand to celebrate a generation of artists who continue to have a positive influence on the world today. With this partnership, La Prairie also pays tribute to the pioneering achievements of these artistic women, which inspired the greatest male artists of the abstract movement.
Collaborating with the Centre Pompidou is an opportunity for La Prairie to allow a large number of visitors to discover the revolutionary work of these women artists and highlight their achievements. This support is also a means to empower them retroactively in order to increase their visibility among the generation of women artists of tomorrow.
Avant-garde women
This is all the more important as La Prairie has a historic link with Niki de Saint Phalle. Her work is widely exhibited at the Centre Pompidou and she inspired the cobalt blue of Skin Caviar, La Prairie’s iconic collection.
This year, through the sponsorship of Niki de Saint Phalle, Structures for Life presented at the MoMa PS1 in New York from 11 March, the brand proudly celebrates the life and work of the artist, an avant-garde woman who dedicated her life not only to an ideal of social and racial equality but also to gender equity.
In addition to celebrating women artists, the exhibition offers a wide range of works organically shared between La Prairie and the Centre Pompidou: Swissness, through the exhibition of works by Swiss artists such as Sophie Taeuber-Arp, for example, or through the Bauhaus movement, which is an inspiration for both artist and the luxury house.
This first collaboration announces a long-term partnership between La Prairie and Centre Pompidou in order to continue to support art and culture in the House’s Corporate Social Responsibility commitments, and to create common innovative projects that give more meaning to luxury.
Banner Photo of Sophie Taeuber-Arp from Fondation Arp Clamart
