Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain
The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, often known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital, Paris. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged.
History
The Fondation Cartier was created in 1984 by the Cartier SA firm as a center for contemporary art that presents exhibits by established artists, offers young artists a chance to debut, and incorporates works into its collection. In 1994, it moved to its current location in a glass building designed by Pritzker Prize architect Jean Nouvel on the site of the former American Center for Students and Artists,[1] surrounded by a modern woodland garden landscaped by Lothar Baumgarten. The ground floor of the building is eight meters (26 feet) high and glassed in on all sides.
In 2011, the president and founder of the Fondation Cartier, Alain Dominique Perrin, asked Nouvel to draw up preliminary plans for a new base on Île Seguin. By 2014, the foundation abandoned plans to relocate to the island and instead commissioned Nouvel to work on the expansion of its current premises.
Collections
The museum displays exhibits of contemporary and international artists, and currently contains over 1000 works by 300 artists. Its collections include monumental works such as The Monument to Language by James Lee Byars, Caterpillar by Wim Delvoye, Backyard by Liza Lou, La Volière (The Aviary) by Jean-Pierre Raynaud, and Everything that Rises Must Converge by Sarah Sze; works by contemporary French artists including Vincent Beaurin, Gérard Garouste, Raymond Hains, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Alain Séchas, Pierrick Sorin, Jean Giraud; and works by foreign artists including James Coleman (Ireland), Thomas Demand (Germany), Alair Gomes (Brazil), William Kentridge (South Africa), Bodys Isek Kingelez (the Congo), Guillermo Kuitca (Argentina), Yukio Nakagawa (Japan), Huang Yong Ping (China), and Damian Pettigrew (Canada).
