Le Métier de Vivre

Through one’s profession – métier – one specifies oneself through forms and determines one’s existence. Affected by historical and economic constraints, a trade is as much about the practice of a skill as it is about the expression of a need. But what about artists who have made it their profession to create, use their creations as “tools” to live ? Where do artists fit in as both artisans and inhabitants of a world that they contribute to shape by what they make and how they live ? Bringing together several generations of makers whose dialo- gues span the ages, the exhibition explores the proximity between art and applied disciplines. Far from an autarkic vision, the “métier de vivre” thus explores the idea of broadening artistic activity so that it encompasses de-compartmentalized and collective modes of production, with the aim to revive exchanges between work and object, art and life. In order to explore the nature of creations and creators, and to question the ambiguous relationship they may have with the work at hand and its use, the exhibition, following the tradition of medieval “multi-purpose houses”, is organised in a space that is both a workshop and a home. This two-entrance space invites teachers, students, illuminators, artists, embroiderers, designers and carpenters to participate in the writing of a history in which trades, objects and beings merge beyond their finalities to explore a new way of thinking and making forms. The illuminator and the guild Certain objects in the Beaux-Arts collection, some almost a thousand years old, hark back to times when a different history of creation pre- vailed. The Books of Hours, which structured the day for laypeople through a set of prayers to be performed daily, are the embodiment of a medieval society controlled by religion. These everyday objects describe a period when art still conformed to the laws of custom, and artists were considered craftsmen. Monastic guilds, thriving in anonymity, articulated patterns and repetitions to put in writing the life of a man, Christ, whose asceticism and modesty stood as exemplary. From the parchment maker to the copyist, from the scribe to the illuminator, the books passed from hand to hand, from expertise to expertise, crafted by both the specific genius and collective engineering of these workers of God. In the age of Gothic, which was as much a style as a system, these craftsmen, breviary illuminators, image carvers and cathedral builders merged with their works, only to disappear behind them. From the Beaux Arts collection, vairous codex fragments dating from the 15th century are nestled on the exhibition walls. Presenting tra- ditional religious scenes, and illustrating the content of future prayers, these pages are the work of a master illuminator whose name, Jacques de Besançon, was given to him by history. Here, the artist Raphael Sitbon has imagined a system of nested box-like structures that house these precious works ; the horizontal and collective production processes are, then and now, a model for a possible coming together of the arts. The decorator and the company In the 19th century, in an insular and Victorian England, a system called capitalism was developed that imposed its law and creed : progress. In contrast to this belief in machines and industry, the poet, painter and architect William Morris initiated an artistic revolution: the Arts & Crafts movement. Influenced by Marxist ideas and nostalgia for the Gothic, he conceived new design and production paradigms. The Decorative Arts became for him the medium through which he pursued this political and aesthetic commitment to reintro- duce pleasure into work and beauty into life. In response to a liberal and competitive system, he recreated a corporation of craftsmen: Morris & Co. At a time when tools were becoming mechanised and objects indus- trialised, members of his firm were trained in traditional crafts such as tapestry, embroidery, coppersmithing, marquetry and cabinetmaking. In the same way, ornamentation and decorative patterns, inspired by medieval interlaced designs, also become a means for Morris to counter the standardisation of forms. On loan from the Oscar Graf Gallery, three artefacts from the Morris & Co. workshops can be seen in the domestic section of the exhibition. A floral embroidery by Ann Daroch, based on a design by William Morris, is displayed alongside a rosewood shelf designed by Philippe Webb, the father of Arts & Crafts architecture. A sconce by the designer William Arthur Smith Benson completes this selection of objects that testify to a poignant union between production and design, art and utility. Artists and artisans Late capitalism, characterised by the development of automation, virtual worlds and artificial intelligence, raises further questions about the shapes to come. The possible disappearance of work, the eclipsing of objects and the rise of social solitude call for a renewed appreciation of work as a means of sharing and finding happiness. In the wake of this movement, the contemporary artists invited to participate in this exhibition are firmly rooted, contrary to our past century’s conceptual movements, in a newfound materiality, and sometimes even in the idea of “making” as an end in itself. The poetic art of «making» has gained renewed interest. Technique, which has often been dismissed as secondary to concept, is regaining its power as a source of control and freedom for artists. The expressiveness of manmade, handcrafted objects is being rediscovered. As these artists learn from history and ac- quire specific skills, they are able to resume a form of dialogue with past makers. From illuminators to set designers, they follow in the footsteps of men and women whose styles and practices constitute the formal and conceptual resources that enable the invention of new narratives. The project includes not only a series of works by artists who are either graduates of the Beaux-Arts de Paris or people from outside the school, but also several functional sculptures resulting from a col- laboration with the École’s wood workshop (la base bois). Pursuing a horizontal approach similar to the one adopted by William Morris and past illuminators, supervisors, students and professors have wor- ked on the construction of collective forms conceived as spaces where dialogue can take place. In this system, pieces of furniture, sculptures and structures blend together much in the same way as their authors. A wall becomes a series of cabinets, a chair a stand, a table a chest of drawers. The subversion of values and functions follows the logic of a multi-purpose space that transitions from productive space to domestic space. This theatre of objects, brought to life through the interplay of construction, organisation and furnishing, creates a stage where the actors of forms perform collectively a trade... The trade of living.