French pavilion explained

The French pavilion houses France's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals.

Organisation and building

The pavilion was built in 1912 and designed by architect Faust Finzi, chief engineer for the Venice municipality. Its layout and details are similar to that of the German pavilion, whose architect was Finzi's former boss.

Representation by year

Art

• 1962 — Alfred Manessier, Jean Messagier, Serge Poliakoff, André Marfaing, James Guitet
• 1976 — Herve Fisher, Fred Forest, Raymond Hains, Alain Jacquet, Bertrand Lavier, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Jean-Michel Sanejouand, Jean-Paul Thenot (Commissioner: Pierre Restany)
• 1982 — Simon Hantaï
• 1984 — Jean Dubuffet
• 1986 — Daniel Buren^[1]
• 1991 — Jean Nouvel, Christian de Portzamparc, Philippe Starck
• 1993 — Jean-Pierre Raynaud
• 1995 — César
• 1997 — Fabrice Hybert
• 1999 — Huang Yong Ping, Jean-Pierre Bertrand
• 2001 — Pierre Huyghe
• 2003 — Jean-Marc Bustamante (Curators: Jean-Pierre Criqui, Alfred Pacquement)
• 2005 — Annette Messager (Curator: Caroline Ferreira)
• 2007 — Sophie Calle (Curator: Daniel Buren)^[2]
• 2009 — Claude Lévêque (Curator: Christian Bernard)
• 2011 — Christian Boltanski (Curator: Jean-Hubert Martin)
• 2013 — Anri Sala (Curator: Christine Macel) [Exhibition was held at the German pavilion]
• 2015 — Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Lili Reynaud-Dewar (Curator: Emma Lavigne)^[3]
• 2017 — Xavier Veilhan (Curators: Lionel Bovier, Christian Marclay)
• 2019 — Laure Prouvost (Curator: Martha Kirszenbaum)^[4]
• 2021 — Zineb Sedira^[5]
• 2024 — Julien Creuzet^[6]

Bibliography

• Web site: Russeth . Andrew . The Venice Biennale: Everything You Could Ever Want to Know . . 2019-04-17 . en-US . 2019-04-22 . mdy-all .
• Book: Volpi, Cristiana . Re Rebaudengo . Adele . 2013 . Pavilions and Garden of Venice Biennale . 169 . France . Contrasto . Rome . 978-88-6965-440-4 .

Further reading

• Web site: Russeth . Andrew . France Picks Laure Prouvost for 2019 Venice Biennale Pavilion . . 2018-05-21 . en-US . 2018-06-19 . mdy-all .
• Kenedy . R. C. . Gerard Titus-Carmel . Art International (Archive Press) . 17 . 16 . November 1973 . 00043230 . . mdy-all .

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Notes and References

1. Michael Brenson (July 1, 1986), Biggest Biennale, The 42, Opens In Venice New York Times.
2. Louise Neri (March 7, 2009), Sophie Calle Interview.
3. Victoria Stapley-Brown (May 22, 2014), Céleste Boursier-Mougenot to represent France at Venice Biennale The Art Newspaper.
4. Nina Siegal (June 7, 2019), Laure Prouvost Represents France. But She Doesn’t Feel Very French. New York Times.
5. Gareth Harris (January 27, 2020), Zineb Sedira to represent France at 2021 Venice Biennale The Art Newspaper.
6. Alex Greenberger (8 December 2022), Julien Creuzet to Represent France at the 2024 Venice Biennale ARTnews.