New Forms of French Modernity
September 12 - October 27, 2018
 

For the start our Fall programming, we are excited to present New Forms in French Modernity, an exhibition featuring the influential work of Jacques Dumond and Joseph-André Motte in the 1950s and early 1960s and their exploration of new materials in post-war society.

The continuance of modernity in France after World War II was promoted by a generation of designers through minimalist style and a proposal of a new post-war lifestyle after the Reconstruction; ornament was rejected in order to support the most simple and efficient concepts in furniture. Jacques Dumond, as one of leaders of this post war movement and, along with Louis Sognot, René Gabriel, and Marcel Gascoin, served as a mentor to the next generation of designers who were exploring new materials like glass, rattan and Formica and technologies after the Reconstruction.  Joseph-André Motte, a key figure of his generation, continued these principles and also experimented widely with overlooked materials, including rattan. Motte once explained, “material is in charge, then imagination.”