Paris.- Currently on view through Monday May 20th, 2013, the Centre Georges Pompidou, is presenting an exceptional retrospective by Irish furniture designer and architect Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray, a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture.
Neglected for most of her career, Eileen Gray (August 9, 1878 – October 31, 1976) is now regarded as one of the most important architects of the early 20th century whose work inspired both modernism and Art Deco.
With this retrospective exhibition, The Centre Pompidou is seeking to approach the artist’s work as an unbroken whole, engaging as she did in drawing, painting, lacquering, interior decorating, architecture and photography.
Gray's work has often been split into two parts by critics, with decorative arts on the one hand, and architectural modernism on the other.
"Eileen Gray can be seen as a total creative artist in the spirit of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), combining different modes of expression, artistic fields and techniques in a call for a return to the emotions," says Cloé Pitiot, Curator of the exhibition and Curator of theMusée National d'Art Moderne.
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| Eileen Gray, 'Table ajustable', 1927-1929, acier tubulaire laqué, acétate de cellulose, mobilier provenant de la Villa E 1027, Image Courtesy of © Coll. Centre Pompidou / DIST. RMN-GP, D.R. |
"Through her works, she expresses every aspect of our inner lives, seeking to embody and satisfy the feelings common to us all, whilst taking into consideration only humanity of a certain era, with all that era’s tastes, emotions and gestures," says Pitiot.
For this exhibition, the Centre Pompidou has concentrated on Gray’s works for the Monte-Carlo Boudoir, the Rue Bonaparte bedroom, E 1027 and the artist’s own villa, Tempe a Pailla.
"In the form of period rooms, this reconstruction allows visitors to gain a better understanding of Gray’s art and her desire to create a purely ideal space; one that is genuinely so because it responds to the deepest needs of the soul and takes into account the essential truth that lies at the core of all artistic exploration of our age: a material body is not an immutable entity but the sum of potentialities." adds Pitiot.