DESIGNING AN EXHIBITION

From left: Installation view Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity at Dallas Museum of Art. Photography by Daniel Salemi. Courtesy of Cartier.

Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity was brilliantly conceived.

BY TERRI PROVENCAL

Glamour and magnificent jewelry is the order of the day when Maison Cartier comes to town. Exceeding these expectations, Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity at the Dallas Museum of Art through September 18, the sole North American venue, presents not only historical beauty, but also visually august exhibition design.

The exhibition combines a bounty of Cartier creations from the early 20th century to today, Louis Cartier’s personal collection of Persian and Indian art, and selections from the Keir Collection, on long-term loan to the DMA. Co-organized and opening first at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (due to Covid delays), in collaboration with the Musée due Louvre, all told, the exhibit has over 400 objects to take in.

Louis Cartier was fascinated by the Islamic art and design culture he discovered through his world travels. At the opening preview, Pierre Rainero, Cartier Director of Image, Style, and Heritage, described the exhibition’s origins: “I came to the idea that beyond specific inspiration linked to one country, one civilization, one period, there was a broader spectrum of shapes, forms that were the origin of a lexicon of Cartier shapes. And among those shapes, I did realize that many of the shapes were coming from Islamic culture.” With this as the point of departure, Rainero exchanged these ideas with Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art.

A major exhibition of this scope and detail involves an au fait group that’s both creative and collaborative. The exhibition is co-curated by Sarah Schleuning, the Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the DMA; Dr. Heather Ecker, former DMA Marguerite S. Hoffman and Thomas W. Lentz Curator of Islamic and Medieval Art; and Évelyne Possémé, Chief Curator of Ancient and Modern Jewelry Musée des Arts Décoratifs, with exhibition design by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R).

The architecture of the two disparate venues informed the nuances of each exhibition. “Even though the scenographer is the same (Elizabeth Diller), the space for this exhibition is very different. In Paris, the space was a living part of the journey of the visitor. In Paris there is a very important nave, which is very high, and there is significant separation between the different small rooms. So, the journey had to be imagined with that specific space in mind,” Rainero apprises. “In Dallas,” he continues, “the freedom was total because the space is an enormous cube. And so both the curators and Liz Diller had to reimagine, from scratch and without constraints of existing divisions, the journey for the visitor. And for that, Liz Diller also imagined new visual animations on top of the ones that were used in Paris.”

Diller, founding partner of DS+R, described, “We work as architects to spatialize the work. We brought in a digital layer. So beyond the display of the artifacts, working with the curatorial framework of the organization, we wanted to look at these select objects through a different lens—through radical magnification, for example, and through a kind of analysis, and through how these things were constructed, their intricacies, which you can’t [ordinarily] see.” An immersive experience of darkened galleries, floating cases with pinpoint lighting, and striking projections invite the viewer into a world of mastery.

As for her inspiration Schleuning says, “I’m always fascinated with creativity, what inspires people to make things. And this kind of idea, this thread, was exploring the creativity, the genesis of ideas and how those replicate, how they’re iterative.”

President and CEO of Cartier North America Mercedes Abramo notes Schleuning was able to choose her favorites from the immense Cartier archive in Switzerland, which is only open for curators and their own designers. “Having Sarah come to Switzerland and walk through there and pick which pieces she wanted for the exhibition is a special treat for the curator.”

Dr. Agustín Arteaga believes the exhibition allows “people to see themselves reflected in the work we do.” In this, the pairing aligns perfectly with the DMA. “For over a century, Cartier and its designers have recognized and celebrated the inherent beauty and symbolic values found in Islamic art and architecture, weaving similar elements into their own designs. This bridging of Eastern and Western art forms speaks exactly to the kinds of cross-cultural connections that the DMA is committed to highlighting through our programming and scholarship.”

Abramo concurs, “Appreciation for all cultures and all levels of diversity is part of our values. Here at the DMA, having such a rich collection of Islamic art already was such a natural match for this collaboration. The 175-year-old Maison is inspired by the world around us. It reminds us where we come from.” P