Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French
visual artist
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
. In 2005 she won the Golden Lion Award at the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
for her artwork at the French Pavilion. In 2016, she won the prestigious Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award. She lives and works in Malakoff,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
["Annette Messager"](_blank)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Retrieved 24 December 2014.
Biography
Annette Messager was born on 30 November 1943 in
Berck
Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve.
Geography
Situa ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Between 1962 and 1966, Messager attended the
École des Arts Décoratifs
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
[
She and the late artist ]Christian Boltanski
Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French conceptual style.
Early life
Boltanski wa ...
were partners.[
]
Career
Messager is known mainly for her installation work which often incorporates photographs, prints and drawings, and various materials. Her work rejects traditional methods in visual arts such as painting in favour of "bricolage" works that combine media and subvert value systems, often making experimental use of methods traditionally designated to a "so-called feminine sensibility."
"‘I found my voice as an artist when I stepped on a dead sparrow on a street in Paris in 1971. I didn’t know why, but I was sure this sparrow was important because it was something very fragile that was near me and my life, states Messager. The sparrow was soon joined by others and became the exhibit ''The Boarders,'' which launched her career in 1972.
She has exhibited and published her work extensively.
In 2005, she represented France at the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, where she won the Golden Lion for her Pinocchio-inspired installation that transformed the French pavilion into a casino. One of her most famous pieces is her exhibition ''The Messengers'', which showcases an installation of rooms that include a series of photographs and toy-like, hand knit animals in costumes.[Riding, Alan]
"Annette Messager: A bold messenger for feminist art"
''The New York Times'', Retrieved 24 December 2014. For example, some of the animals' heads were replaced by heads of other stuffed animals to reflect the ways in which humans disguise themselves or transform their identities with costume.
In 2014, she created an installation titled ''Les Interdictions :'' a combination of the puppet motif and a pattern of sixty eight prohibitory signs from around the world. The only sign that was invented by the artist is a sign condemning prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
.
Select solo exhibitions
* Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble: 1973, 1989–90 (touring retrospective)
* Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: 1974, 1984, 1995
* Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn: 1976, 1978
* Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, 1977
* Holly Solomon Gallery, New York: 1978
* Galerie Gillespie-Laage Salomon, Paris: 1979, 1985
* St. Louis Art Museum: 1980
* Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Berkeley: 1981
* St. Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1981
* PS 1, Long Island City, NY: 1981
* Artists' Space, New York: 1981
* Musée de Beaux-Arts, Calais, 1983
* Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1984
* Gallerie d'Art contemporaine, Nice, 1986.
* Musee de Grenoble, 1989.
* Musee Departmentale, Chateau de Rochechouart, 1990.
* Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 1992.
* Arnolfini, Bristol, 1992.
* FRAC Picardie, 1993.
* ''Penetration'', Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York, 1995.
* Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
, 1995.
* ''The Messengers'', Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris, 2007.
* Mori Art Museum, Tokyo 2008.
* ''The Messenger'', Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...
, London 2009.
* Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (MARCO), Monterrey 2010.
* Zachęta
The Zachęta National Gallery of Art (Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, ...
National Gallery, Warsaw 2010.
* Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City 2011
* Galeri
mfc-michèle didier
Paris, 2011. "Mes dessins secrets, Mon guide du tricot, Ma collection de champignons bons et de champignons mortels"
* Galeri
mfc-michèle didier
Paris, November 2012 – January 2013. "Ma collection de proverbes"
*''Púdico-público'', IVAM, València
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...
, 2018.
Select group exhibitions
* ''Couples''. MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...
, New York, 1978.
* ''Photography as Art''. Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
, London, 1979.
* ''Today's Art and Erotism''. Kunstverein, Bonn, 1982.
* ''Images in Transition''. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
The is an art museum in Kyoto, Japan.
This Kyoto museum is also known by the English acronym MoMAK (Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto).
History
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK) was initially created as the Annex Museum of the Nationa ...
. 1990.
* ''Parallel Visions''. Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
, Los Angeles, 1992.
* ''A visage decouvert''. Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain
The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, 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.
History
The Fondation Cartier was cr ...
, Paris, 1992.
* ''Arrested Childhood''. Center of Contemporary Art, North Miami, 1994.
* ''New Works for a New Space''. ArtPace
Artpace is a non-profit contemporary art gallery located in San Antonio, Texas, United States, founded by Linda Pace. Artpace opened its doors in 1995, and focuses on the artistic process. Occupying the space of a former Hudson automobile dealers ...
, San Antonio, Texas, 1995.
* ''elles@centrepompidou.'' Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris 2010.
* ''Dead Animals and the Curious Occurrence of Taxidermy in Contemporary Art.'' Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
Bell Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island 2016.
* ''Dream On.'' NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, Athens, Greece 2022.
Select books
* ''Mes dessins secrets, Bruxelles'', mfc-michèle didier, 2011. Edition of 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist's proofs. Voi
mfc-michèle didier
* ''Ma collection de champignons bons et de champignons mortels'', Bruxelles, mfc-michèle didier, 2011. Edition of 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist's proofs.
* ''Mon guide du tricot'', Bruxelles, mfc-michèle didier, 2011. Edition of 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist's proofs.
In 2006, a book under the title ''Word for Word: Texts, Writings and Interviews (1971–2005)'' was published. It explores the writing in Annette Messager's artworks, and gathers numerous related texts published in magazines or catalogues, as well as unpublished notes on Messager's work and her personal reflections on art and life. All her interviews from 1974 to the present are also included.
Select editions
* ''Ma collection de proverbes'', Bruxelles, mfc-michèle didier, 2012. Edition of 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist's proofs. Voi
mfc-michèle didier
References
Sources
* Fabian Stech, J'ai parlé avec Lavier, Annette Messager, Sylvie Fleury
Sylvie Fleury (born 24 June 1961) is a Swiss contemporary pop artist known for her installations, sculpture, and mixed media. Her work generally depicts objects with sentimental and aesthetic attachments in consumer culture, as well as the parad ...
, Hirschhorn, Pierre Huyghe
Pierre Huyghe (born 11 September 1962) is a French artist who works in a variety of media from films and sculptures to public interventions and living systems.
Education
Pierre Huyghe (pronounced ''hweeg'') was born in Paris in 1962. He lives ...
, Delvoye, D.F.G. Hou Hanru, Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle (born 9 October 1953) is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement known as Oulipo. ...
, Minyg, Sans et Bourriaud. Presses du réel Dijon, 2007.
* Sheryl Conkelton and Carol Eliel, ''Annette Messager''. Los Angeles County Museum of Art & The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1995.
External links
Interview with Annette Messager
The Artists
Communiqué présentation 3e rotation de l’exposition “elles”
''BOMB Magazine'' interview with Annette Messager by Bernard Marcade (Winter, 1989)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messager, Annette
1943 births
Living people
French mixed-media artists
20th-century French painters
21st-century French painters
French photographers
Postmodern artists
Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
20th-century French sculptors
École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs alumni
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
French contemporary artists
20th-century French women artists
21st-century French women artists