In 2022, the Fondation Etrillard co-created a two-year educational programme with Ecole Boulle, a Parisian school founded in 1886 and one of the leading art and design schools in Europe.
The Foundation is offering its collection of works of art for study by a number of 2nd and 3rd year art and design students, with the aim of promoting, interpreting and reappropriating its emblematic works.
This educational project is dear to the Foundation's heart, as it enables the training and transmission of know-how to a new generation of craftsmen thanks to the objects in its collection, bringing together ancient art and new practices.
Under the guidance of their teachers, students from 8 different workshops (Decorating and Surface Treatment, Cabinetmaking, Marquetry, Jewellery Art, Chasing, Bronze Mounting, Sculpture and Furniture Restoration) practise both their creativity and their technique.
Once the finalists' creations have been completed, a jury made up of teachers from the Ecole Boulle and members of the Fondation Etrillard meets to choose a winning work from among them.
In 2023 and 2024, one of the tapestries in the collection depicting the myth of Narcissus and Echo served as a starting point for the students. Woven in the early 18th century by the Gobelins manufactory, this tapestry illustrates the whole of Ovid's story: Narcissus, leaning over a pool to admire his reflection, fails to notice the presence of Echo, the nymph condemned by Hera to speak no more, except to repeat the last words she hears.
This is an opportunity for the 10 students selected to reinterpret themes such as impossible love, the mirror or the echo.
Their work will be on display at the graduation exhibition for DNMADE (diplôme national des métiers d'art et du design) and DSAA (diplôme supérieur des arts appliqués) students at the École Boulle on 21 and 22 June 2024.
Gobelins Manufactory after Antoine Dieu, « Narcissus and Echo » (detail), circa 1714-1736, Fondation Etrillard collection, FE.2022.006 © Christophe Fouin
