Pierre Rainero, Directeur De L’Image, spoke to us about Cartier’s commitment to the arts, and the ethics that guide that commitment.
WHITEWALL: Talk to me about the history of the Cartier Foundation.
PIERRE RAINERO: It was created in 1984, at a period of time when the company and the work of Cartier was seen as something, let’s say, rooted in the past. And jewelry is a tricky field, because in the early ’80s, people were looking at jewelry as an investment, and totally forgot the artistic motivations behind the creation. So on top of the citizen behavior to go show others our commitment to the arts, there was also a will to show the community how a house like Cartier was a contemporary house. We’re people living in the current world, with the motivation and the interest around contemporary creations.
Since the beginning we decided that there would be no link, or no direct link between the choices of the Cartier Foundation, and the creative activity of Cartier. They’re two different things.
WW: Which gives the Cartier Foundation more room to be edgy and contemporary.
PR: Yes. At Cartier, we consider ourselves like a house. Our creations are not the result of a whim of one creator. They are part of a history, and part of a style that is living with the people. For us, style is something like a living language. It evolves with the people, with the people inside Cartier, and also with our customers. Cartier wouldn’t be alive without the relevance of its creations. If you create something that is a museum piece, nobody would buy it. For Cartier, that is a constraint, or well, not a constraint but a part of the fuel that pushes us.
I think there is something different about art, probably because Cartier’s objects have to live with the people and to be part of a way of life. Art is different. The freedom of an artist is greater.
WW: Art can be a bit separate from society.
PR: Yes.
WW: What’s your decision process when you look for artists to support. Is there a certain objective or yard stick you use to make that decision?
PR: Yes, from the beginning actually. It’s to make people discover people and works and emotions that they haven’t experienced. So it means that our choice is, generally, toward artists who are not very well known, or if artists are established, it’s to show parts of their work that aren’t very well known.
So that’s the idea, even for established names. And we help people discover artists with a very particular life and work. I remember, for instance, Alair Gomes, the Brazilian teacher and photographer. He had this obsession with photographing young men without them knowing that they were being photographed. He created incredible work throughout his life, and that’s the kind of work that was current. On top of that, it was unknown because most of the pictures were given to Rio Library [National Library of Rio]. They are not on display.
Still, one field where we have to do better is to internationalize the work of the Cartier foundation. The foundation is very well established in Paris, and France. It’s a destination, very popular by numbers of visitors.
WW: Do you have an idea about where, globally, you think the Cartier institute would like to look in terms of sponsoring international artists?
PR: It’s difficult to say. The scene is now the size of the world. With the global influences, and globalization, it’s now difficult to say that one is typically Brazilian, for example, or typically Chinese. But for me personally, I think despite the globalizing world, what is very reassuring to find, and very positive, is to uncover local roots and proof of a local culture. To find that is very reassuring to know that despite everything, we have an incredible human richness. That’s the kind of work the Cartier Foundation would like to present. To present different cultures and create strong emotions everywhere, to show the strengths of human beings. Or I don’t know. Maybe I’m being too philosophical. [Laughs.]
