Support an exhibition

From September 26, 2019 to January 12, 2020

This exhibition highlights the unique story of the Maharaja d’Indore, Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur (1908-1961), a figure in the European and Indian cultural milieu who commissioned one of the most successful Modernist constructions of 1930s India: The Manik Bagh Palace (19301933), built in Indore, in the present-day state of Madhya Pradesh. The edifice, designed by the German architect Eckart Muthesius, was entirely furnished with works by key figures of the European inter-war avant-garde, from the designers of the Union des Artistes Modernes to members of the Bauhaus school. The exhibition, presented in the museum’s main hall, recreates the ambiance of this unusual Modernist Indian palace, where refinement and simplicity joined forces. Among the 300 pieces on display will be iconic designs by Louis Sognot, Charlotte Perriand, Alix, Jean Puiforcat, Le Corbusier, Hans and Wassili Luckhardt and Réné Herbst. Numerous archival documents (photographs, paintings, correspondences and drawings) will reveal the extraordinary story of this royal figure who represents a unique perspective on the international history of decorative arts and architecture in the 1920s and 30s.

From November 7, 2019 to February 23, 2020

Far from limiting itself to presenting a selection of shoes according to an austere and monotone chronology, or displaying a line-up of “fashion” shoes that have no defining feature other than being extraordinary, this exhibition questions the status of the shoe and our ways of walking both in the West and in non-European cultures, from the late Middle Ages to the present day. What kinds of shoes have been worn by children taking their first steps? Have high heels, flat soles, platforms and pointed or square toes had repercussions for our gait and our way of life? How have women who subscribe to the cult of the small foot – both in seventeenth-century Europe (Charles Perrault wrote Cinderella in 1697) and in China – reconciled their ideals of beauty and their mobility? Was the appearance of “walking shoes” at the end of the nineteenth century related to the major urban reconfigurations that made the street accessible to pedestrians? What technical details have made shoes more comfortable over the centuries? Other more specific aspects of shoes and how we walk in them will be examined, including sport (from 1890 to the present day), dance, military marching and magic shoes (from Hermes’ talaria to the seven-league boots). Finally, we will present a selection of contemporary shoes in which it is difficult – if not impossible – to walk. What motivates designers to deliberately create shoes that render the wearer immobile?