Couture at work

25 March - 24 July 2011

The Musée Galliera inaugurated its extra-mural programme at the Musée Bourdelle with the first Parisian retrospective dedicated to Madame Grès (1903-1993).

A couture professional seen by her peers as the leading light of their field, Madame Grès repeated throughout her life: “I wanted to be a sculptor. For me, working with cloth or stone is the same thing”. Her quest took her all over the ancient world as well as to North Africa, India and elsewhere. This fifty-year journey goes from Hellenistic statuary to the stark minimalism which she pioneered in the fashion world. It was therefore at the Musée Bourdelle, more than anywhere else, that Madame Grès’ sculpted dresses found their rightful placeat the Musée Bourdelle. The exhibition brought together some eighty works from the Musée Galliera and from private collections, around fifty original photographs and a hundred sketches from the Maison Grès drawing collection.