Exposition à venir
Paris Design Week: “CONTREPOINT” by Anthony Guerée
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For its first collaboration with Paris Design Week, the Bourdelle Museum will present the installation Contrepoint by French designer Anthony Guerrée from September 8 to 27, 2026, in a section of its permanent collections.
Conceived by Anthony Guerrée as a dialogue between contemporary decorative arts and the sculptural language of Antoine Bourdelle, this multifaceted installation draws on various artisanal techniques and combines materials such as wood, glass, textiles, and mixed clay. The furniture and pieces on display are inspired by the lines, curves, and forms that Anthony Guerrée has freely borrowed from the sculptor’s works.
In the majestic plaster hall, four stained-glass and wooden screens cast their colorful play of light around The Dying Centaur, Heracles the Archer, and The Monument to General Alvear.
The sculpture studio showcases clay mixed with terracotta surfaces and modules, as well as molds and matrices, displayed on Bourdelle’s table. The presentation of these creations continues in the inner garden.
In the painting studio, a more intimate space, the “Orbe” chaise longue is displayed with a jacquard fabric designed specifically for the occasion, drawing on Bourdelle’s repertoire of forms. Small pieces of furniture, such as a rotating bookcase, complete the display.
This large-scale installation complements the design collections at the Bourdelle Museum. Thanks to a bequest from Rhodia Dufet-Bourdelle in 2002, the museum houses furniture collections and archives belonging to Michel Dufet (1888–1985), an iconic Art Deco designer who promoted the work of his friend and father-in-law, Antoine Bourdelle.
« Sculpture, after all, is nothing more than drawing in every sense of the word »
Stained glass & artistic woodwork
In this iconic space of the museum, a series of stained-glass windows designed specifically for the exhibition introduces light as a new medium. The compositions emerge from a set of lines developed through observation of the curves and tensions present in Bourdelle’s sculptures. These fragments of lines—abstract yet deeply connected to
sculptural movement—become colorful compositions.Here, the stained-glass window becomes an architecture of light, transforming the space into an interplay of shapes and shadows thanks to the expertise of Sophie Toporkoff and the solid ash structures crafted by woodworker Louis Monier.
The art of Cotto
In his sculpture studio, Anthony Guerrée is conducting research on blended clay, in collaboration with the Italian manufacturer Fornace Brioni. This research takes shape through terracotta surfaces and modules, three-dimensional objects—vases, trinket dishes, free-form pieces—as well as fragments and variations in the material. The designer places molds and matrices at the center of his work. Displayed alongside the finished pieces, they appear as negative sculptures, revealing the memory of the gesture and the invisible stages of production. Through this installation, Anthony Guerrée highlights the process of transforming the material, from the impression to the finished object. This installation extends into the museum’s interior garden.
Artistic weaving & limited-edition furniture
In this intimate space, Anthony Guerrée creates a dialogue between sculptural forms and everyday objects. The Orbe chaise longue, designed for the French publisher La Chance, is presented in a version specially upholstered for this installation. The fabric is a jacquard whose pattern is directly inspired by the curves of Bourdelle’s sculptures and crafted by the century-old Tissages de Charlieu workshop with technical support from Isabelle Arnadie. Surrounding this piece, several accent furnishings complement the display, including a unique rotating bookcase. Arranged on its shelves are molds from various projects, each serving as an autonomous sculptural presence.
In partership with Paris Design Week and Anthony Guerrée
Director: Ophélie Ferlier Bouat, Director of the Bourdelle Museum
Concept & Design: Anthony Guerrée, Designer
Project Manager: Alice Massé, Chief Curator of Heritage
Public Engagement Manager: Sybil Meunier
Communications Manager: Marie Couraud
Stained glass & artistic woodwork
Atelier Toporkoff (France) - Stained Glass
Sophie Toporkoff carries on an exceptional tradition of craftsmanship in the art of stained glass, blending tradition with contemporary innovation. Each piece emerges from a close dialogue between design, light, and material, where the glass is shaped, colored, and assembled to reveal its full depth and vibrancy. Working closely with artists and designers, the studio supports the development of custom projects by exploring the artistic and technical possibilities of stained glass.
Atelier Monier (France) - Woodworking
Louis Monier, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, specializes in woodworking and the creation of custom pieces, where precision of craftsmanship harmonizes with a deep sensitivity to the material. Each project is approached as a quest for balance between structure, detail, and form, revealing the inherent qualities of wood through intricate joinery and exceptional craftsmanship. This partnership with Anthony Guerrée stems from a shared commitment to preserving artisanal traditions, as the folding screen has long been part of the chairmaker’s repertoire.
The art of Cotto
Fornace Brioni (Italy) - Terracotta
Founded in 1920 and now run by the fourth generation, Fornace Brioni carries on an exceptional artisanal tradition centered on cotto, a traditional terracotta made from clays sourced from the Po Valley in northern Italy. Handcrafted from natural clays and then fired, cotto is a vibrant, warm, and durable material, with each piece bearing the marks of the artisan’s touch, the firing process, and the passage of time. Long specializing in the restoration of historic floors, the workshop is now developing a focus on contemporary design, collaborating with architects, artists, and designers. Since 2025, Anthony Guerrée has been developing several collections of tiles and objects (Voluto, Vertigo, Ordo, and Echo) that explore surfaces, modules, and three-dimensional forms where artisanal tradition and artistic experimentation converge. This collaboration affirms cotto’s potential as a medium for contemporary creation.
Artistic weaving & limited-edition furniture
La Chance (France) - Furniture
Founded by Louise Breguet and Jean-Baptiste Souletie, La Chance is a French furniture design house that, since its inception, has cultivated a unique vision of design at the intersection of art, architecture, and sculpture. The brand champions collections in which forms, materials, and storytelling engage in a sophisticated dialogue, through collaborations with French and international designers. Since 2025, Anthony Guerrée has been collaborating with La Chance on the development of several pieces of furniture (Orbe, Forma, Marfa, Eclipse), exploring a design language in which each piece seeks to establish an architectural presence within the space.
Isabelle Arnadie (France) – Tissages de Charlieu
Tissages de Charlieu carries on an exceptional textile craft, rooted in French tradition while remaining firmly focused on innovation. Specializing in Jacquard weaving, the company develops custom fabrics where technical mastery, attention to detail, and an understanding of materials bring even the most complex designs to life. For this project, Isabelle Arnadie’s expertise and vision guided the development of the pattern conceived by Anthony Guerrée, transforming a vocabulary of lines and shapes into a sensitive textile language. Developed in the early 19th century, Jacquard is a weaving technique that directly integrates the pattern into the very structure of the textile, turning the fabric into a true creative space where design, craftsmanship, and innovation converge.
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