Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand devoted her life to improving the living conditions of the majority of people, creating an "art of living" in connection with nature. She used photography as a tool to observe reality, but also to defend her conception of a new world. In the 1930s, she used giant photomontage to denounce unhealthy urbanism and to give her vision of better living conditions. Her photographic frescoes bear witness to the modernity of her approach, whether it be La Grande Misère de Paris (1936), the waiting room of the Minister of Agriculture (1937), or the pavilion of the Ministry of Agriculture at the Exposition internationale des arts et techniques de la vie moderne held in Paris in 1937, composed with Fernand Léger. The exhibition offers an insight into his conception of the world through his working method and his incredible collection of photographs - vintage prints, negatives, cut-up magazines, personal photographs - an archive shown to the public for the first time, set against the reconstruction of his monumental photomontages.