French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Gilardet, Réinventer le musée. F. Mathey, un précurseur méconnu
Art and Visual Culture
Bibliographic reference: Gilardet Brigitte, Réinventer le musée, François Mathey, un précurseur méconnu, Les Presses du réel, collection "Oeuvres en société", 2014. EAN13: 9782840666615.
The history and legacy of François Mathey (1917–1993), an extraordinary curator whose life reads like a novel, a leading figure in promoting contemporary art and a true pioneer of heritage preservation. "Let's go see Mathey, because he is bracing, because he has a way of looking at a work of art that you won't find in any other museum," a curator and university professor told his students in Grenoble in the late 1960s. After spending ten years at the Inspectorate of Historic Monuments, François Mathey served as curator and then chief curator of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris from 1953 to 1985.
Although his work is often mentioned in the art world, it has usually been discussed only partially or anecdotally; to this day, it remains relatively unknown to the general public and underrepresented in art history. Moving far beyond the partial and subjective memories held by those who knew him during various high and low points of his career, this book offers a comprehensive and unprecedented look—twenty years after his passing—at his atypical path and bold, original contributions, which directly paved the way for the creation of the Centre Pompidou. François Mathey left a lasting mark on a generation of young curators, academics, gallerists, art critics, and cultural administrators who still claim his legacy today. He played a key role in the construction of Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel and the creation of Manessier's stained glass windows. At his museum, he exhibited Picasso's Guernica in France in 1955, followed by works by Léger, Matisse, and Chagall, as well as Jean Dubuffet, Cartier-Bresson, the École de Paris (both traditional and avant-garde), the New Realists (Yves Klein, César, Arman, and Raynaud), and Narrative Figuration, alongside international artists such as Mark Tobey, Lucio Fontana, Pino Pascali, Francis Bacon, and David Hockney. François Mathey exhibited all fields of artistic creation (painting, sculpture) without any hierarchy of genres, while also championing emerging forms of expression that have since won full legitimacy, such as cinema, photography, comic books, and design.
In the unanimous opinion of those who valued his work, François Mathey was definitely not a curator like any other; he remains a visionary pioneer and a towering figure in the world of cultural heritage.
Brigitte Gilardet, PhD in Art History, continues her research at the Institute of Contemporary History (IHTP – CNRS).
Studies of institutional history and curatorial practice often examine the evolving role of museums in shaping public engagement with modern and contemporary art during the twentieth century. Within the French cultural landscape, the decades following the Second World War witnessed significant shifts in heritage preservation, exhibition design, and the institutional recognition of diverse artistic mediums. Scholars of art history and cultural administration frequently analyze how visionary figures navigated the bureaucratic and aesthetic boundaries of their time to foster new dialogues between historic artifacts, avant-garde movements, and the broader public.
Brigitte Gilardet examines the atypical path and bold contributions of François Mathey, who served as curator and chief curator of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris from 1953 to 1985. The text traces his legacy across various artistic fields, highlighting his exhibitions of major modern and contemporary artists without hierarchical distinctions between genres, as well as his championing of cinema, photography, comic books, and design. Readers interested in the history of twentieth-century museums, curatorial practices, and the institutional promotion of contemporary art may find this volume relevant.