Collecting in 21st century: Looking back to last 20 years of acquisition in France

Since 2004, the ADIAF — Association pour la diffusion internationale de l’art français — has been organizing a three-year exhibition entitled De leurs temps. This year, the concept innovates at the Lambert Collection in Avignon and opens up a history of collections which extends over the acquisitions of collectors during the last -approximately- 20 years, since the beginning of the 21st century.

From 14 December 2019 to 15 March 2020, the exhibition «Collectionner au XXIème siècle»  (Collecting in 21st century) invites 77 collectors to present the significant works acquired since the turn of the century. In total, 142 artists and 182 works are presented to portray a generation of collectors.

The exhibition explores all artistic practices, and tends to depict the upheavals in creation, the new devices – especially digital and performative – and their implementation. In short, it is a sample group of new ways of thinking that raise new questions.

Collecting in France, in the 21st century, what does this signify? How does the market forge itself? Which artists has the greatest share of collectors? What trends emerge from this diversity of acquisitions? How are collectors involved in the preservation of this new contemporary heritage, both in terms of documentation, marks engraved in history and conservation? So many questions that may find elements of answers in the heart of the walls of the mansion of the Lambert Collection in Avignon.

#Hors les murs (Beyond the walls)

The Estelle and Hervé Francès collection, commissioned as part of this project, generously lends out four selected artworks acquired since 2001:

• Sofie Muller, Tristan
• Jonathan Monk, The World without the Word in Blue
• Simon Fujiwara, Fabulous beasts (marked lambs)
• Laure Prouvost, Egg branch

> Exhibition Catalogue : De leur temps (6) Collectionner au XXIème. Si une accumulation reflète une vie, Éditions Silvana Editoriale.

Visual : Collectionner au XXIe siècle – De leur temps (6) at Lambert Collection – Close-up detail of the artwork : Simon Fujiwara, Fabulous Beast (marked Lambs), 2015, 130 x 75 x 2 cm, shaved fur coat on wooden stretcher, unique piece © Estelle and Hervé Francès collection