11 Feb 2025 22 Jun 2025

Objects - Ways of seeing

Archaeology, ethnology, avant-garde

The exhibition explores the crossroads between surrealism, ethnology and archaeology during the interwar period in France, focusing on the question of what to do with objects.

The fertile dialogue that ensued marked a decisive turning point in the decompartmentalisation of disciplines. It was supported by avant-garde magazines, in particular Cahiers d'art (1926–1965), Minotaure (1933–1939), and Documents (1929–1930).

With each new issue, these periodicals challenged the academic framework. Putting photographic reproductions of ancient, modern and non-European works into dialogue allows us to escape from the authority of classical art history, to question established values and give rise to new meanings.

Pablo Picasso, Georges Henri and Thérèse Rivière, André Breton, Michel Leiris, Charles Ratton, Joan Miró, Brassaï and Georges Bataille were all among the contributors to these magazines. They all share a common interest in art from the distant past, non-Western art, as well as popular and everyday art. Their experimental approach gives rise to a new perception of objects, places, and times. They challenge the very concept of the museum by asking these simple but daunting questions: what is the object; what is art? What makes an object into a work of art?

  • The exhibition was curated in scientific partnership with the Benaki Museum in Athens and the Ecole française d'Athènes.

    Curators

    Alexandre Farnoux, Professor of Greek archaeology and art history at Sorbonne University/École française d'Athènes
    Polina Kosmadaki, Curator of modern and contemporary art at the Benaki Museum, Athens
    Philippe Peltier, Curator and former Head of the Oceania- Insulindian Heritage Unit at the musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris
    Efthymia Rentzou, Associate Professor of French Literature at Princeton University

    Scenography

    Maud Martinot, Sabir, Aura Studio

  • Place:   Galerie Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière
  • TimeSlots:  
    From Tuesday 11 February 2025 at Sunday 22 June 2025
  • Closed on monday
    Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday:  10:30 am-07:00 pm
    Thursday:  10:30 am-10:00 pm
  • Public:   All publics
  • Categorie : Exhibitions
  • Museum ticket entrance
    Full price:  14,00 €
    Reduce rate:  11,00 €

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