The Kandinsky Library
Presentation
Reflecting the hybridization of practices that is specific to modernity, the Kandinsky Library occupies a special place in the Musée national d'art moderne.
In charge of heritage collections, it holds more than 18,000 printed works by major 20th and 21st century artists, testifying to the extension of artistic practices into the various forms of printed reproduction: books of prints with Marc Chagall, Sonia Delaunay, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso; artist's books with Marcel Broodthaers, Sophie Calle and Ed Ruscha; photographic albums with Brassaï, Germaine Krull and Man Ray; artist's reviews, like Francis Picabia's 391; but also book-objects, as well as leaflets and posters.
In addition, the Kandinsky Library preserves the museum's documentary collection. This exceptional ensemble is fundamentally multi-disciplinary, and brings together manuscripts, printed materials, photographs, films and videos.
Intensely international, it is spread out over more than 180 archive collections that testify to the diversity of the players who contributed to the modern and contemporary arts movement:
- Artists like Constantin Brancusi and Wassily Kandinsky
- Architects and designers with Jean Prouvé and Ettore Sottsass
- Photographers, film and video makers with Marc Vaux and Harry Shunk
- Art critics and theoreticians with Anne-Marie Duguet and Ida Gianelli
- Gallerists, booksellers and publishing houses with, notably, Cahiers d’art.
This ensemble is available to a specialist public of researchers, artists and professionals from the art world. The Kandinsky Library thus constitutes the research centre of the Musée National d'Art Moderne.
Contributing to many programmes in art and heritage science, it also represents the Museum with the university consortiums of which it is a member, and develops a rich scientific programme, like its annual summer university, an inter-disciplinary forum for passing on knowledge.
Access
The Kandinsky Library is open to researchers with appropriate credentials.
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