Concours commande - Âmes d’Œuvres
Wood marquetry craftsman
Pierre-Henri Beyssac discovered wood through family heritage and by chance whilst exploring various educational paths. After obtaining a DMA (Diplôme de Maîtrise en Art) as top of his year at the École Boulle, he travelled to Italy to join the European Centre for Restoration in Florence. He then undertook a posting to Réunion, where he set up the IRMA marquetry workshop. On his return to mainland France, he joined the Spindler workshop, near Strasbourg. There, he learnt new techniques and explored his craft through new, more contemporary subjects. After returning to Paris to teach marquetry at the École Boulle for five years, he decided to move back to the regions to relocate his workshop and devote himself fully to his craft as a marquetry artist.
Today, working as a marquetry artist between the Drôme and Paris, he is constantly seeking innovation. By questioning his craft, testing it against contemporary challenges and other disciplines, he explores the boundaries of marquetry in order to reinvent its forms and uses.
Head of the Department of Decorative Arts at the Louvre Museum
Olivier Gabet, Head of the Department of Decorative Arts at the Louvre Museum since 2022, is a qualified archivist and palaeographer from the École nationale des chartes – PSL and a heritage curator. In 2002, he joined the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris as a curator of furniture. He then moved to the Musée d’Orsay as curator of the decorative arts collections from 1850 to 1900. From 2008 to 2013, he was involved in the Louvre Abu Dhabi project as curator in charge of decorative arts, then as deputy scientific director. In 2013, he became director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (MAD), responsible for the collections of decorative arts, design, fashion, textiles, advertising and graphic design, before being appointed deputy director-general in 2019. The author of several books on the decorative arts, including *Japonismes* (2014), he has curated numerous exhibitions such as *Christian Dior: Couturier of Dreams* in 2017 and *Luxes* in 2020.
PhD in Art History, university lecturer. Curator of the Fondation Etrillard’s collection
She was awarded a PhD in Art History from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 2003, Sophie Mouquin was appointed senior lecturer in modern art history at the University of Bordeaux (2004–2007), then at the University of Lille (since 2007), and was Director of Studies at the École du Louvre (2011–2016). A specialist in the decorative arts, the arts of interior design and the history of taste in the 17th and 18th centuries, she is the author of several books and numerous articles and chapters in edited volumes. A member of the scientific committees of several journals and institutions, a member of the TEFAF Selection and Vetting Committees, and a qualified expert on the acquisitions committee for ‘Service à compétence nationale’ museums and the acquisitions committee of the Louvre, she has received several awards: the Nicole Prize for her PhD in 2004, the Focillon Fellowship (Yale University and the French Committee for the History of Art) in 2008, the SNA Art Book Prize in 2018, the Eugène Carrière Prize from the Académie Française and the Gobert Medal from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 2019 for ‘Versailles en ses marbres, politique royale et marbriers du roi’.
Art and design historian and independent curator. Director of the mudac from 2000 to 2022.
An art historian trained at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and New York University, Chantal Prod’Hom served as Curator at the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne, then as Director of the FAE at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Pully/Lausanne and of Fabrica – a research centre for new languages of communication. She subsequently took over as Director of the mudac, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne, from its founding in 2000 until its integration into the Lausanne arts district PLATEFORME 10 in 2022. There, she curated numerous exhibitions, such as ‘A Chair and You’ in 2022. Chantal Prod’Hom was appointed a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic in 2010, received a Merit award from the Swiss Design Prize in 2013, and was awarded the Lausanne Gold Medal in 2022.
She is currently president of Pyxis – Lausanne’s centre for culture and digital exploration – and works as an independent curator.