FOUNDATION LOUIS VUITTON 

 ⟪Le monde nouveau de Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999)⟫

Charlotte Perriand, Inventing a New World

The work and life of Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) trace a unique path, free and independent, from the 1920s until the dawn of the 21st century. "Creation is not a formula." she said. Known for her contributions to the field of design, Perriand had a broad vision with the other art (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.), her aim in everything was to profoundly improve daily life. 

By devoting all of its galleries to Charlotte Perriand, the Fondation Louis Vuitton focuses of the designer's realizations—including, for example, furniture, fittings and photographs—but also the connections she forged with artists. We cannot appreciate the "art of dwelling" that she put into worlds and space without understanding the works that were part of how she saw the world. The exhibition adopts this perspective, chronologically and over four levels, combining related works and going so far as to immerse the visitor in historical reconstructions. 

From 1927 to 1940, most notably in collaborating with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand reinvented housing (Gallery 1). She was Politically active in the 1930s (Gallery 1), particularly alongside Fernand Léger. With him, aware of the limits of progress and modern technology, she turned to nature (Gallery 2).

Her stay in Japan (Gallery 4) deepened her understanding of the links between cration and tradition, and initiated one of the central aspects of her work the dialogue between cultures. These listening skills and human dimension were in evidence after World War 2, during her participation in Reconstruction Projects (Gallery 4).

In Tokyo in 1955, she proposed a "Synthesis of the Arts" (Gallery 5), presenting works by Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, and her own creations. In Paris, she took part in the production of her furniture with the Steph Simon Gallery (Gallery 6), and during her stay in Rio (Gallery 7) in the early 1960s she further enriched her language. 

The thread of this conversation between disciplines continues in Gallery 9. Works by Robert Delaunay, Simon Hantaï, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Henri Laurens and also Fernand Léger are exhibited in evocations of spaces designed by Charlotte Perriand, to better see and show the artwork. In Galleries 8 and 11, her alpine passion is explored through projects on both small (Tonneau refuge) and large (Les Arcs) scales, developed for an environment important to her since childhood. The exhibition concludes with the intimate bond she established with Japan: the Tea House she created in 1933 for UNESCO is reconstructed in Gallery 10, echoing the architecture of Frank Gehry.