Chanel is doubling down on its commitment to the art world by signing a three-year partnership with the Centre Pompidou, this time focused on contemporary Chinese art.
The initiative will include an acquisition fund that will strengthen Pompidou’s permanent collection of contemporary Chinese art by 30 percent and will include significant addition of works by female artists.
“We are proud that the multifaceted and long-term partnership between Chanel and Centre Pompidou celebrates creativity in China, bringing it to diverse audiences in Paris, Shanghai, and around the world,” said Yana Peel, president of art, culture and heritage at Chanel.
Spanning mediums such as digital art, video, installation, sculpture, painting, and photography, the initiative will identify and support Chinese artists who are shaping the forefront of contemporary creativity in China; it will also integrate historical works by pivotal names not yet represented in the collection.
The acquisitions will inform future exhibition programs at Shanghai’s West Bund Museum X Centre Pompidou in Shanghai, a cultural collaboration set up in 2019.
In addition, a research program will be created to complement the acquisitions. It will examine the history of the Centre Pompidou’s collection of Chinese art and its evolution since 2020. The findings will be shared with the public via publications and events.
“Chanel’s generous support will help us continue a long-lasting artistic story between our museum and Chinese artists. China is one of the first major countries and artistic scenes in which we [National Museum of Modern Art, housed in the Centre Pompidou] have been in dialogue with since the 1930s,” Xavier Rey, director of the National Museum of Modern Art at Centre Pompidou, said in an exclusive interview with WWD.
“The ambition of the partnership is to continue the research on the young generation of Chinese artists and to have a sense of the diversity of cultural attempts to tackle the challenges of humanity today, including climate change, technology versus humanity, and dialogues between societies,” he said.
Innovation is a major theme explored by contemporary Chinese artists, according to Rey.
“Young Chinese artists are happy to deal with a lot of mediums. They are currently participating in a global movement of renewing the classic painting — there is a long tradition of paintings in China,” he added.
On Sept. 26, a signing ceremony was held at the Villa Basset, the residence of the French Consul in Shanghai. Keynote speakers included Rey, Charlotte Jozan, managing director of mainland China at Chanel, and Joan Valadou, consul general of France in Shanghai.
Xavier Rey and Charlotte Jozan at the signing ceremony.
Courtesy
Chanel’s partnership with Pompidou began in 2019. Last year, the museum launched its first survey of contemporary Chinese art since 2003. Titled “China — A New Generation of Artists,” the exhibition includes works by 21 artists born in the late 1970s through the early 1990s, a time of economic boom.
Centre Pompidou’s contemporary Chinese collection holds 267 works from 83 artists since 1976.
