Name: Shigetaka Kurita. "NTT DOCOMO", Inc., Emoji, 1998-1999 by Fondation Louis Vuitton in Être moderne : le MoMA à Paris
Duration: 1 min 55 s
Description: Nous sommes l’aboutissement de ce travail : 176 pictogrammes, qui se disent « emoji » en japonais. Laissez l'oeuvre de Shigetaka Kurita vous raconter son histoire.

La Fondation Louis Vuitton a accueilli dans le bâtiment dessiné par Frank Gehry une sélection de 200 œuvres qui retracent l’histoire du MoMA dans son rôle de collectionneur.

Quatre oeuvres exposées prennent la parole et vous racontent leur histoire accompagnées d'une musique créée spécialement pour elles.

Être moderne : le MoMA à Paris

CST191
180gLP / CD / DL
03 April 2026
Constellation

Radwan Ghazi Moumneh & Frédéric D. Oberland • Squeal Of Swine

Explore "Woman on a Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach (1988)", one of the most important works by Faith Ringgold, a renowned artist, writer, and activist. This monumental quilt, the first in a series of five, tells the story of a young girl who dreams of flying from her Harlem rooftop to celebrate her own freedom and self-possession.

This exhibition dives into Ringgold’s artistic influences and the lasting impact she has had on later generations of artists. Alongside Tar Beach, visitors will see works from the Guggenheim New York collection by European modernists such as Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, who inspired Ringgold, and contemporary American artists such as Tschabalala Self and Sanford Biggers, whose work reflects her legacy.

The Reach of Faith Ringgold is organized by Naomi Beckwith, Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, with support from Saria AlMidani, Assistant to Chief Curator. It is the third exhibition in the series Collection in Focus.

Faith Ringgold, "Woman on a Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach," 1988. Acrylic paint, canvas, printed fabric, ink, and thread. 74 5/8 x 68 1/2 inches (189.5 x 174 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, Mr. and Mrs. Gus and Judith Leiber, 1988 88.3620. © 2024 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York. Photo: Ariel Ione Williams © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Exhibition Website

Curator Reflections

Transcript:
The sitter in this photograph is Mary Allen, whose maiden name was Bruce before she married Münter's late uncle William Schueber. After William's death, she married Jonathan Gaddis Allen. She lived with her family in Marshall, Texas, a major center of trade and industry at the turn of the 20th century. 

This portrait is one of several that demonstrates Münter's nuanced understanding of light, whether she was working indoors and experimenting with “flashlight photography” or tracking sun positioning outdoors. Here, Münter’s subject is both front and backlit from a light source behind the camera, as well as from the light shining in from a window to her right. This would've been quite difficult to achieve.  

Although Münter's mass produced camera had been advertised to the amateur photographer, her number two bullseye was not a simple snapshot camera, what we today would think of as a point and shoot. It had two time settings, one for instantaneous captures and another for long exposures. 

It also had three different aperture settings. Since this photograph was taken indoors, it would've required a longer exposure time, the timing of which Münter would've had to determine herself. This photograph was taken some time between May and July of 1900, just a few short months after Münter first acquired her camera in February. 

It is remarkable that she was able to take such sophisticated photographs within this short period of time, and it calls attention to her quick adoption of the medium. Although Münter's photography practice was likely self-taught, she had familial ties to a local photography studio in Marshall through Mary Allen. Mary's brother Thomas Jefferson Bruce operated a studio with his business partner Harry Corti, called Bruce and Corti, which we know Münter visited during her stay. In fact, professional photography was a family business. Mary and Thomas's father had run his own studio as well. It is possible that Münter received guidance from her family members as she honed her skillset and developed her practice. 

We might wonder the extent to which Münter's proximity to a professional photography studio influenced her own photographic eye. After all, portraiture was by far Münter's most frequent subject. Of the roughly 400 photographs she took while in the U.S., nearly 200 are of people. Behind Mary Allen in this photograph is a sheet not unlike a backdrop used in a photography studio. Münter deployed a makeshift backdrop in at least one other photograph of relatives in Arkansas, and often thoughtfully arranged her subjects for portraits as a professional photographer might do in their studio.

"Mary (Bruce Scheuber) Allen by a window"

See how this small 1952 collage reflects Rauschenberg’s Morocco travels and his use of humble materials, layering printed fragments onto the cardboard from laundered shirts.

Transcript:
There's a small work in a case, the only work in the case in the gallery called Untitled (Hotel Bilbao). This is from 1952. You might think it's related to the Guggenheim Bilbao, but actually not at all. If you look at the printed elements on that piece, you can see that this is a hotel in Morocco. This is a trip that Rauschenberg made in 1952. And he made a number of works in this series.

You'll notice this sort of what would seem to be poor quality brown paperboard in the background that another paper is mounted to. Those are actually sheets of cardboard that your laundered shirt would come back with. So, to keep your shirt stiff when they fold up your shirt, they would wrap it around this cardstock or paper board. Rauschenberg took these and did these collages directly onto them.

"Untitled (Hotel Bilbao)"

Senior Paintings Conservator Julie Barten gives an inside look at how "Barge" traveled from Bilboa to New York. 

Conservation of Barge

Mon histoire est basée sur le roman « l’Homme invisible », de l’écrivain américain Ralph Ellisson,  paru en 1952. L'oeuvre de Jeff Wall vous raconte son parcours ...

Jeff Wall. "After "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue", 1999-2000

Quelque part entre photographie, collage et assemblage, je suis l‘œuvre du photographe Emmanuel Radnitsky, plus connu sous le pseudonyme de Man Ray. L'oeuvre "Rayograph" vous raconte son histoire...

Man Ray. Rayograph, 1922

Nous sommes l’aboutissement de ce travail : 176 pictogrammes, qui se disent « emoji » en japonais. Laissez l'oeuvre de Shigetaka Kurita vous raconter son histoire.

Shigetaka Kurita. "NTT DOCOMO", Inc., Emoji, 1998-1999

Composée de 64 toiles carrées monochromes, je suis l’œuvre « Colors for a large Wall » de l’artiste américain Ellsworth Kelly. Ecoutez l'histoire de cette oeuvre et laissez vous emporter par la musique conçue spécialement en écho au travail de l'artiste.

Ellsworth Kelly. "Colors for a large Wall", 1951

"...the truth is the light and light is the truth." La lumière est évoquée à travers les tintements de verre comme autant d’ampoules multipliées, les éléments comme la vieille machine à écrire et le vieux tourne-disque convoquent l’époque des luttes civiques américaines, Martin Luther King tel une icône rendant cette vérité lumineuse.

© Guillaume Van Roberge, Fondation Louis Vuitton

Jeff Wall en musique

Architecture de structures sonores de différentes couleurs répondant à une abstraction géométrique faites d’autant de couleurs. Malgré l’aléatoire de la forme, la superposition des phrases permet la formalisation d’un cadre « carré », à la façon de ces monochromes juxtaposés en damier.

© Guillaume Van Roberge, Fondation Louis Vuitton

Ellsworth Kelly en musique

La Fondation Louis Vuitton a ouvert ses portes en 2014, dans un bâtiment conçu par l'architecte Frank Gehry. Afin de promouvoir la création artistique sur le plan national et international, elle s’appuie sur des expositions temporaires d’art moderne et contemporain, des présentations d’œuvres de sa collection, des commandes d’artistes, ainsi que des manifestations pluridisciplinaires (concerts, performances, colloques, projections, danse…).

Shigetaka Kurita. "NTT DOCOMO", Inc., Emoji, 1998-1999

Fondation Louis Vuitton

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