Visual Art and Corporate Collections
2 The Flâneur Perspective on Visual Art
2.2.5 French art collections
2.2.5.1 Cartier
The art collection of the French jeweler firm Cartier is displayed in an external art museum; the Foundation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, that was
established in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrain, the president of Cartier
International, (Cartier SA). In 1994 the collection moved from its first location in Chãteau de Montcel in Jouy-en-Josas south west of Paris to its present location, a new museum building designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, and located near Montparnasse in Boulevard Raspail in Paris. (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998) Similar to several other external corporate art museums it has an interesting architecture consisting of steel and glass walls, and large glass sheds, placed in a garden where nature and trees are integrated in the architecture. The name of the corporation stems from the Cartier family, and Louis-Francoise Cartier, who founded the jewelry firm in Paris in 1847.161 The Cartier family owned the firm until they sold it in 1964. In 1972 the firm was bought by a group of investors in collaboration with Joseph Kanoui,162 and in 1973 the successful collection “Les Must de Cartier” was developed by the president of Cartier Robert Hocq in collaboration with Alain Dominique Perrain, who became the head of the Directorship of Cartier International.163
Cartier has been known and recognized for its watches and jewelry through the whole twentieth century. The company’s first watch bracelet for females was produced in 1888,164 and the first wristwatch for males in 1904.165 Cartier is historically known for serving royalty, stars and celebrities all over the world.
Among other Richard Burton presented the then famous 69 carat pear shaped
“Cartier diamond” to Elizabeth Taylor in 1969, which was renamed the “Taylor
161 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1847:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1847 (01.06.2011)
162 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1972:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1972 (01.09.2011)
163 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1973:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1973 (01.09.2011)
164 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1888:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1888 (01.09.2011)
165 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1904:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1904 (01.09.2011)
Burton” diamond.166 Cartier has branches all over the world, and according to Cartier; in 2001 New York named the place at 5th Avenue and 52. Street the
“Cartier Plaza”.167 As the Cartier jewels and watches are also arts and crafts, they are often exhibited in art museums, where Cartier shows historical objects from their production, such as in 2009, in the exhibitions; “Story of… Memories of Cartier creation” in the National Museum in Tokyo, “Cartier Treasures- King of Jewelers, Jewelers to Kings” in the Palace Museum in Beijing, and “Cartier and America” in Legion of Honor – Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco.168
MIH Photo: 86 (left) Foundation Cartier, Paris, November 2010 MIH Photo: 87 (right) Foundation Cartier, Paris, November 2010
Today the art collection at Foundation Cartier consists of over 1000
contemporary artworks created by more than 300 artists. It includes paintings, sculptures, video art, photography, installations and films, and represents contemporary artists from different countries and different generations such as Joseph Kosuth (USA), César (France), Louise Nevelson (Russia-USA), Barry Flanagan (Britain), David Lynch (USA), William Eggleston (USA), Raymond Depardon (France), Jeff Wall (Canada), Walter Niedermayr (Italia), Daido Moriyama (Japan), Rainer Fetting (Germany), Gilbert & George (Britain), Liza Lou (USA), Michel Othoniel (France), Xavier Veilhan (France), Jean-Michel Alberola (Algeria), Christian Boltansky (France), Frédéric Bruly Boabré (Ivory Cost), Seidu Keita (Mali) Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congo) and Takashi Murakami (Japan). (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998)169 It is interesting to note that the collection contains a relatively high quantity of art photography and films since it
166 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=1969:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/1969 (01.09.2011)
167 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=2001:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/2001 (01.09.2011)
168 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=2009:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/2009 (01.09.2011)
169 http://fondation.cartier.com/?_lang=fr (01.06.2011)
also seems to be a high interest of photography in general in France, and particularly in Paris, where a great photo festival is arranged in November every second year; a biennale, with exhibitions on art photography in “every” museum, galleries and public places including the new National Library.
Another interesting aspect of the collection is that 10 of the 59 artists presented on the collections website at the present time are Japanese artists, which indicates a considerable interest in Japanese art. However, an interesting aspect of the Cartier collection is that it seems to be relatively “global”, including artists from East Asia and Africa along with artist from the West; France, USA, Germany, England, Italy and other Western countries. The representation of African artists is particularly interesting, since France until about 1960 had several colonies among the African states. Due to this there is a close connection between France and several African states, and the French influence is still present in most of these states as they use French as their principle language. The represented African artists come from states such as Mali, Niger, the Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast, all French speaking.170 Thus the Cartier art collection can also be described as global and not dominated only by Contemporary American or Western art that dominates the international art scene, as pointed out by Quemin and others, (Quemin 2008) and discussed in chapter 2.1.7.2. In respect of this, the Cartier collection partly seems to oppose the common trend as a museum of contemporary art.
In an art historical perspective, primitive African cultures affected the development of Western art at the late 1800s and beginning of the 1900s and particularly the development of Cubism. Or more correctly; Cubist painters, such as Picasso and Braque were inspired by primitive cultures, similar to several Post Impressionist artists such as Cezanne, Gauguin and van Gogh. Picasso was particularly inspired by African masks, which appears in his famous and epoch making work “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” from 1907, (Lynton 1989) which is regarded as the first Cubist painting and which today is located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Cubism also prepared the ground for the development of Functionalism in architecture and design. Today the interest of primitive art is displayed in an upcoming exhibition at Foundation Cartier called “Vaudou”, in English “Voodoo”, starting in April 2011, showing objects from the collection of Anne and Jaques Kercharche; a dedicated collector of primitive arts, who also was an initiative maker to the museum of primitive arts in Paris; the Quai Branly Museum that opened in 2006.171 The African representation in the art collection
170 http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fransk (01.20.2011)
171 http://fondation.cartier.com/?_lang=fr (01.06.2011)
is also interesting in light of the fact that a great part of the world’s diamonds come from Africa, also much of the gold, and obviously; for a jeweler, the access of both gold and diamonds is crucial.
The collection was founded in a time period that was marked by a growing industrial globalization. The time was also marked by high economic growth in France, which reached its peak in 1988-89.172 After a down period, the GDP in France reached a new height in 1994-95, at the same time that the new art museum of Cartier was erected. Obviously corporations as well as the society are marked by changes in the national economy, which means that both economical variations and globalization may contribute to establish the current zeitgeist of a society, and mark corporate cultures. As mentioned above, other factors, such as the political and technological development also influence the society in different time periods, and particularly in the last decades after the emergence of the Internet, which has contributed to a further globalization by an information exchange practically “without borders”, including the exchange of cultural knowledge. This means that the Internet has also influenced the zeitgeist of the last couple of decades. In that perspective the global orientation of the Cartier collection, including artists from regions that have been weakly represented in Western art museums and collections, may also be explained by the growing globalization, and transparence in the flow of information, and a growing interest for art from developing countries.
In respect of gender, 41 of the artists presented on the website of the collection are male artists, while 18 are female artists.173 Although the gender of the artists behind all the presented artworks on the foundations website are not included in my “counting”, the number of female versus male artists seems reliable, as there are usually more male artists in any art collection. In a catalogue of the collection that appears to be from 1998, about 180 of the represented artists are male, while only 35 are female artists. Symptomatically, in a photograph in the same catalog that includes several artists, there are nine male artists and one female. (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998) Still, the number of female versus male artists that are represented on the website of Foundation Cartier today, 18 out of 59,174 indicate that the representation of female artists in the collection may have increased during the last decade. This impression is underpinned by the website of the Cartier Corporation, where the corporation states that they became an active
172 http://www.indexmundi.com/france/gdp_real_growth_rate.html (02.01.2011)
173 http://fondation.cartier.com/?_lang=fr (01.06.2011)
174 http://fondation.cartier.com/?_lang=en&small=0 (01.13.2011)
member of “Women’s Forum; for the economy and society” in 2005.175 The forum encourages women in business life, and in 2006 Cartier contributed to found an annual award in collaboration with the forum and other supporters; the Cartier Woman’s Initiative Awards. Five female entrepreneurs, one from each continent, are awarded every year. The award consists of $20,000 grants, coaching support and an exclusive trophy designed by Cartier.176 In spite of the seemingly extended representation of female artists, and that several artworks appear as feminine, the collection as a whole appears as more masculine than feminine, consisting of art that tends to appear with what Duncan and others describes as masculine codes; large sized, monumental and raw. (Duncan 1992)
Although most of the art seems to represent non offending art, some artists in the collection are known for pushing the limits of being non-offending, such as Gilbert and George, mentioned above. The museum also arranges several temporary art exhibitions, and a photograph by the controversial American art photographer Robert Mappelthorpe from the exhibition “À Visage décovert”, or
“With uncovered face” in 1992, which is included in the 1998 catalogue, (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998) although he does not seem to be listed among the artists in the collection today. Additionally the collection has artworks that indicate sexuality and prostitution, such as the American art photographer Nan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” from 1982-95. (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998) However none of the current artworks seems to be directly in the category of art that people find offensive, unless one artwork by Gilbert and George, depicting two flying red crucifixes, named “Yellow Crusade” from 1982 (Charles, Lassée et al. 1998) are experienced as blasphemous by some spectators.
2.2.5.2 Société Générale
The art collection of Société Générale was established in 1995, by the completion of the corporations’ new headquarters in La Defense, the business area west of Paris, which provided a lot of space for visual art. The collection consists of contemporary art, spanning from the 1970s and up to the present time represented by more than 300 works in different techniques and sizes, such as paintings, sculptures and photographs. Additionally the collection includes 700 lithographic prints and screen prints in several editions. It includes works of French and internationally recognized artists such as Pierre Soulages (France), Pierre Alechinsky (Belgium), Andy Warhol (USA), Zao Wou-Ki (China), Antoni Tapies (Spain), Barry Flanagan (Britain) and Thomas Ruff (Germany).177 The
175 http://www.cartier.fr/#/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps?selectedYear=2005:/la-maison-cartier/a-travers-le-temps/2005 (01.09.2011)
176 http://www.womens-forum.com/index.php/main/projects/5 (01.09.2011)
177 http://www.societegenerale.com/art (01.11.2011)
artworks are integrated in the headquarters of Société Générale, and spread around in common areas, corridors, group rooms and meeting rooms in the headquarters. Some of the works, such as Barry Flanagans “The Elephant”
creates “landmarks” within the headquarters and makes people gather around the sculpture before lunch.
The art collection has been developing bit by bit, into a collection representing a wholeness that according to Société Générale also shows how the corporation as an art collector has developed towards art patronage.178 The corporation is expanding the collection by acquiring about ten new art works every year. The strategy for acquiring new art is either to buy works from new and highly rated upcoming artists, who are in the process of building an international career, and from more famous established artists. Each artwork is judged by a committee of experts within contemporary art. The final decision to purchase the art is taken by an acquisition committee that consists of members from the General
Directorate of Société Générale.179 It is interesting to notice that the art collection of Société Générale is established in a time period when the corporate interest in collecting art had declined in USA. But while the USA was marked by an economic down period in their GDP, with only a moderate growth through the nineties, France recovered from a down period in 1993 to a new economic height towards 2000.180 This may enlighten the founding of the art collection of Société Générale in the nineties. La Defense, the new business area where the
headquarters is located is marked by culture, innovation and a future ideology, including a large number of modern sculptures created by world famous artists such as Alexander Calder (USA), Juan Miro (Spain), Richard Serra (USA), Vassilakis Takis (Greece), Yaacov Agam (Israel), César Baldaccini (France) and many others.
The development of the business area La Defense was a strong national ambition supported by General de Gaulle that appeared in the post World War II period. It started with the erection of the National Center of Industries and technologies;
the CNIT in 1958, an exhibition hall designed by the French architects Robert Camelot, Jean de Mailly and Bernard Zehrfuss, shaped like a large triangular shell, long known as “the futuristic building” of La Defence. (Lagard,
Coupechoux et al. 2009) The CNIT triangle was the starting point of the urban and futuristic business district in the former rural area. Many consider La Defense to be a symbol of France’s entrance into the modern world; not to be confused with Modernism, and today the area is filled with modern skyscrapers,
178 http://www.collectionsocietegenerale.com/ (01.13.2011)
179 http://www.collectionsocietegenerale.com/ (01.21.2011)
180 http://www.indexmundi.com/france/gdp_real_growth_rate.html (02.01.2011)
many with a rather futuristic architecture, and a large number of fascinating and contemporary monumental outdoor sculptures. Undoubtedly the futuristic atmosphere that characterizes La Defense, and the innovative and future oriented ambition of the area also affect many corporations located in La Defense.
As the Société Générale collection contains art from the seventies and up to the present, and artworks created by young artist that are in the stage of developing their artistic career, it is both looking at the present time and the immediate past, and forwards toward the future. According to the corporation, the integrated collection contributes to make employees and business partners meet the
“irregular shapes” of visual art on a regular and pedagogical basis, by
participating in monthly conferences, weekly meetings and theme collaborations.
Art comments are also provided in virtual galleries and videos, lined up in different spaces of the headquarters. The displayed art has a museum quality, and artworks from the collection are often lent out to art museums in major cities in France where the external audience can visit parts of the collection. Due to this, the corporation has joined in mutual partnership with external art museums and fairs, such as the FIAC181 in Paris in October 2010, located at the Grand Palais, where an artwork of the collection was presented for 18 hours every day, presented and commented by the artist who had created the work. During the art fair, Société Générale also offered a special tour in the collection, which is usually reserved only for employees.182
In respect of gender, there are a lot more male than female artists represented in the collection. In the artist index on the corporation’s website, there are approximately 155 male artists and 52 female artists listed.183 In other words, also the art collection of Société Générale seems to be male dominated, as about three out of four listed artists are males. In spite of several feminine art
expressions within the collection it appears as mainly masculine, both because of a great number of relatively large sized art, and because a great part of the artworks appear with a raw expression and what Duncan and others describe as masculine coded. (Duncan 1992) Seemingly none of the presented artworks in the collection appear as offending. Due to its high quality; the collection also signalizes both cultural capital and pecuniary strength. As claimed by a French informant, corporate collections are not as usual in France as in the US. If that is the case, one may wonder if this is due to the overall present art and culture in the French society, evolved through the centuries and representing most of the art
181 “Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain”
182 http://www.societegenerale.com/coulisses/quinze-ans-d%E2%80%99engagement-pour-l%E2%80%99art-contemporain (01.13.2011)
183 http://www.collectionsocietegenerale.com/ (01.13.2011)
styles in the Western culture. Obviously, in a country loaded with such a heavy cultural baggage as France, which also was the cradle of Modernism and the first Modernist art styles such as Impressionism and Cubism and which dominated and influenced the development of visual art in the Western world practically until World War II; art, may not be the most prioritized subject in French corporations. In that case the collection of Société Générale is an exception.