3 CONTENTS PrESS rELEASE 4 FOrEWOrD 7 THE CHALLENGES OF THE EXHIBITION 9 UNVEILING THE DIVErSITY OF 18TH CENTUrY SKILLS AND DESIGNS 10 SEEING, UNDErSTANDING, APPrECIATING... 12 A DIFFErENT PErSPECTIVE ON 18TH-CENTUrY FUrNITUrE 13 THE EXHIBITION 15 PLAN 16 A VISUAL LABOrATOrY 17 CABINET-MAKING 18 JOINErY, SEATING 32 IN CONNECTION WITH THE EXHIBITION 43 PUBLICATIONS 44 JEAN NOUVEL ABC 46 THE ÉCOLE BOULLE 48 MAÎTrES D'ArT VISITS 49 PArTNErS OF THE EXHIBITION 51 SPONSOrS 52 Press contactscontacts MEDIA PArTNErS 54 HélèneHélène Dalifard,Dalifard, AurélieAurélie Gevrey, Elsa Martin,Martin, APPENDICES 59 Violaine SolariSolari PrACTICAL INFOrMATION 60 VISUALS AVAILABLE TO THE PrESS 62 T : + 3333(0)(0) 1 30 83 75 21 [email protected] 4 PrESS rELEASE 18th century, birth of design FUrNITUrE MASTErPIECES, 1650 TO 1790 THrOUGH THE EYES OF JEAN NOUVEL 28TH OCTOBEr 2014 - 22ND FEBrUArY 2015, AFrICA rOOMS AND CrIMEA rOOM THE PALACE OF VErSAILLES IS PrOUD TO PrESENT ITS EXHIBITION OF FUrNITUrE MASTErPIECES FrOM 1650 TO 1789, WITH rEPrESENTATIVE EXAMPLES OF THE rICHLY CrEATIVE WOrK OF THE PErIOD. THE EXHIBITION OFFErS A GLIMPSE OF THE INGENUITY OF A BYGONE ErA VIEWED THrOUGH THE LENS OF THE PrESENT DAY AND SHOWCASES THE INNOVATIVE, AVANT-GArDE NATUrE OF THE SHAPES, TECHNIQUES, OrNAMENTATION AND MATErIALS USED IN 18TH CENTUrY FUrNITUrE. THIS IS THE FIrST EXHIBITION OF ITS KIND SINCE 1955. THE EXHIBITION INCLUDES A HUNDrED Or SO WOrKS owned by some of the wealthiest art-lovers of the time, including the royal family and its entourage, aristocrats and financiers, and illustrates the revolution in furniture-making that took place in the th18 century. Works from all the great masters will be on display, including those by André-Charles Boulle, Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus, Charles Cressent, Bernard II Vanrisenburgh, Jean-François Œben, Jean-Henri Riesener and George Jacob. PrEVIOUSLY-UNKNOWN WOrKS FrOM PrIVATE COLLECTIONS WILL BE SHOWN TO THE PUBLIC FOr THE FIrST TIME alongside major works from collections at the Palace of Versailles, the Musée du Louvre, the Musée des Arts décoratifs, the Château de Fontainebleau and the Getty Museum. AS VISITOrS MAKE THEIr WAY rOUND THIS EXHIBITION, SEEING THE PIECES THrOUGH THE EYES OF JEAN NOUVEL, they will come to understand how furniture shapes and forms evolved over time, from the expansiveness of mid-17th-century cabinets to the playful curves of the Louis XV style to the straight lines of the 18th century. THE ABUNDANT CrEATIVITY AND EXCEPTIONAL CrAFTSMANSHIP of these Ancien Régime artists will be unveiled against a clean, contemporary backdrop. Unlike paintings, furniture must be more than just admired, it must be interpreted and explained. Each piece is presented not as part of a homogenous décor but as a singular work of art. Various visual tools as used, ranging from magnifying glasses to digital imaging, to bring each piece's architecture, pattern, finish and unique qualities to the fore. 5 EXHIBITION THE ÉCOLE BOULLE SCHOOL OF ArT AND DESIGN will host special presentations for visitors, CUrATOrS including youngsters, to elucidate the connection between the culture heritage of yesteryear and Daniel Alcouffe today's living tradition of artisanry and to explain, for instance, how a cabinetmaker makes a desk Honorary Curator - General or a woodworker builds a chair. Yves Carlier Curator General at the Musée TH National des Châteaux de AN 18 CENTUrY DESIGN Versailles et de Trianon Patrick Hourcade IN 1712, SHAFTESBUrY INTrODUCED THE TErM AND CONCEPT OF "DESIGN" TO ArT THEOrY. It Photographer and designer contains the dual meaning of "plan" and "intention" and unifies the process of conceiving and Patrick Lemasson Head Curator, Head of shaping a work. For the first time furniture was planned with forethought, created with a specific ancient art at the Petit Palais, intention and shaped for both functionality and comfort. 18th-century furniture was produced Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris according to design sources, aux sources du design in French, both in its overall conception and in Gérard Mabille its quest for harmony between form and function. Honorary Curator - General THE TrANSFORMATION OF FUrNITUrE-MAKING WAS PArALLELED BY CHANGES IN 18TH CENTURY SOCIETY. Commissioners of major furniture pieces showed an increasing desire for comfort and luxury. The close cooperation between planners, architects, ornamentalists (precursors of designers) and highly skilled artisans formed the basis for our modern philosophy of artisanal, anti-industrial design. Decorative arts purveyors took up a new role similar to that of decorators today and invented new applications for cabinetry. THE METAMOrPHOSIS OF FUrNISHINGS THE QUEST FOr THE IDEAL SHAPE AND FOrM HIT ITS PEAK IN THE 18TH CENTURY, when the silhouette of furnishings began to change. Inventiveness and creativity abounded and new outlines began to take shape, from console tables to commodes to secretary and armoire desks. Rigid outlines began to soften, then morphed into rounded curves, then gave way to curved legs - sometimes four, six or even eight of them. Furniture became multipurpose and featured mechanisms that allowed it to transform into something else. BrEAKTHROUGHS IN THE USE OF MATErIALS AND COLOUrS THE SAME QUEST WAS UNDERTAKEN IN THE USE OF MATErIALS, with the rise of exotic woods, lacquers, varnishes, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, bronze, brass, lead, porcelain, straw, steel and stone marquetry. Cloth, bulrush and copper began to be used in chairs. Long before the garish colours afforded by plastic in the th20 and 21st centuries, the 18th century saw the birth of furniture in red, daffodil yellow, turquoise blue and apple green, sometimes splashed with gold and silver. At the same time, other colour palettes were limited to the black and gold of lacquer and bronze, and patterns were reduced to natural ones made out of quality materials such as mahogany. PArT I FOrEWOrD 9 Part I — Foreword THE CHALLENGES OF THE EXHIBITION THrEE MAJOr CHALLENGES WErE POSED BY THIS EXHIBTION; AN EXPLOrATION OF MASTErPIECES OF 18TH-CENTUrY FrENCH FUrNITUrE meant examining them in their own right outside of their historical context in different apartments, fully appreciating a curve, the gleam of a varnish or the complexity of a hidden spring, and entering the mind of Boulle, Gaudreaus or Riesener to understand how their work inspires designers today. The first challenge was to "remove" the furniture from its usual setting within the historical setting of the Palace of Versailles, where the focus is on refurnishing the royal and princely apartments so that they ressemble as closely as possible the way they looked in the 18th century. With the assistance and keen eye of photographer and decorator Patrick Hourcade, we have followed the advice of experts who maintain that 18th-century perfection can be found in a kingly desk or a queenly commode. "An objet should not be vague or lifeless," wrote the collector Michel David-Weill in his Mémoires, "it should attract attention and must have such a strong presence that all its creative energy is concentrated inside it." With the improvements of 21st-century technology, we can understand the creative energy of the 18th century better and reveal it for the first time to exhibition visitors. This was the second challenge of the exhibition: highlighting the incredible inventiveness and awe- inspiring skills of cabinetmakers, marquetry layers, masons and bronze workers who turned furniture into an art form for the first time, rendered it part of daily life and exposed it to the world. Finally, the third challenge of this exhibition was to reveal how the craftsmen of the past have influenced modern-day designers. It is not insignificant that the word "design" was coined in 1712, marking the beginning of an uninterrupted era in which furniture has echoed society. A new perspective on 18th-century furniture revives interest at a time when it may have started to be neglected. I would like to express my thanks to Jean Nouvel for agreeing to assist us in this unique exhibition. the idea that we could approach this major theme with new ideas would never have been brought to fruition without the erudition and drive of Daniel Alcouffe; the commitment of the Palace of Versailles curators Gérard Mabille and Yves Carlier, led by Béatrix Saule; the enthusiasm of Patrick Lemasson, Head Curator and Head of Ancient Art at the Petit Palais, and the motivation of the top international experts on the scientific committee. I would like to thank each of them for their dedication in making us see these iconic items of furniture through a new perspective. Thanks to the generosity of some of the most eminent private collectors, we have been able to combine the beauty of unknown works with a rich array of loans by some of the world's leading museums. I would like to thank each one of them. They confirm that Versailles remains the natural home of perfection. Catherine Pégard President of the Établissement public du Château, du Musée et du domaine national de Versailles 10 Part I — Foreword UNVEILING THE DIVErSITY OF 18TH-CENTUrY SKILLS AND DESIGNS The furniture of Versailles is often considered synonymous with perfection and success. When connected with a historical celebrity – a prime example would be Marie-Antoinette – it takes on an almost obsessive dimension. This level of perfection attained in the 18th century by Parisian craftsmen was the result of both technical and decorative work and research during the lives of several generations of masters, workers and partners. Working within a restrictive environment that was tightly controlled by the French system of corporations, they succeeded in revolutionising the fundamentals of furniture appraisal in just a little over a century. Furniture appraisal was primarily typological. A leap from 15 common types of furniture in the 1670s to approximately 100 before the Revolution illustrates the astounding evolution in form and function alongside an increase in the number of rooms in apartments.