Mises en Scène

On view at Demisch Danant, Mises en Scène presents six interior rotating scenes inspired by period photographs. Each vignette focuses on one or two works, and a documentation panel offers a glimpse of the narrative behind each work. This exhibition aims to translate historical design to a contemporary context.

A single photo can be the inspiration to investigate a designer and eventually collect their work. Suzanne Demisch and Stephane Danant started researching French 20th century design in the late 1990s, mainly from period magazines like l’Oeil, and Maison Française:

“Design books were scarce then, and primary sources were not online yet, so when you wanted to study a designer, you had to go to the library. Even then, it was challenging to find a library that had the documents you needed.

We bought magazines at flea markets and combed every page to identify a work we had seen, or new works that we were looking for. If you were lucky, you could find a designer’s archives at an auction sale. We really enjoyed this discovery process and its adventures. Our libraries, in New York and in Paris, are full of archival images and documentation.”

• Suzanne Demisch