Fabienne Fravalo – författare

Aesthetic seduction, superb workmanship, and historical interest are the three central themes in thecollection of Fondation Gandur pour l'Art (Geneva), created in 2010 andstill expanding. The aim of this first volume is to catalogue the worksin the collection, whose decorative aspects are every bit as important as their narrative content. The works are for the most part sculptures -statuettes and ornamental reliefs - although two-dimensional decorations depicting figurative scenes associated with classical antiquity or Christianity are no less important.The periods represented by the sculptural works discussed in this book reflect the scope of the whole collection, which ranges from the 12th to the 18th century. And since the goal of the collection is to document centuries of cultural exchange between France and neighbouring countries, all the works included in the book come from these latter regions. The hybrid styles are closely linked, and this is an aspect of considerable importance, as is the originality certain pieces display and, last but not least, their aesthetic quality.The book is arranged by topic,which brings out the great originality and extraordinary richness of the collection, as well as the extremely varied nature of the subjects, narrative episodes, and figures portrayed. More specifically, the topicsare divided into five sections: ancient gods and heroes; biblical and allegorical figures; scenes from the life of the Virgin; episodes from the life of Christ; and saints and intercessors. Each work has its own entry that describes the historical and geographical context in which itwas made, analyses its iconographic content, and includes a bibliography and a list of the exhibitions where the work was exhibited.

Following a first volume devoted to secular and sacred objects and sculptures from the 12th to the 18th centuries, this second catalogue in the decorative arts collection of the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art focuses specifically on the art of living. Furniture, caskets, boxes, clocks, lamps, turned ivories and gold and silver cups from the dawn of the Renaissance to the end of the Age of Enlightenment provide a panoply of strictly decorative European creativeness.Edited by Fabienne Fravalo, curator of the decorative arts collection at the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, this catalogue is introduced by two essays, written respectively by Sophie Mouquin, lecturer at the University of Lille, and Caroline Heering, professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. It presents the major objects in the collection, studied and analysed by curators and scholars working in German, American, English, Belgian, French and Swiss institutions.