© Marc Domage. Courtesy de l'artiste et de Marian Goodman Gallery
Annette Messager

© Marc Domage. Courtesy de l'artiste et de Marian Goodman Gallery

Annette Messager

Born in 1943, in Berck (France)

Lives and works in Malakoff (France)

Annette Messager belongs to a generation of artists who, since the 1970s, have been rewriting the language of art. 

Without stating a specific position, Messager asserts her dual identity as a woman and an artist. She creates characters that cultivate ambiguity: the Collectionneuse, the Truqueuse, the Amoureuse and the Femme pratique, whose imaginary lives are opportunities to expose prejudice and express what is usually left unsaid. In the 1980s Messager began to incorporate fragments of the body through photography, fur and puppets, inserting them in mechanised worlds, focusing on the emotive and symbolic charge of works that reflect the theatre of life in derisory, grotesque or dramatic fashion. In 2005, Messager received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, where she represented France.

Selected Bibliography

Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou (Paris) ; Duplaix, Sophie. Annette Messager : the messengers : [exhibition, Centre Pompidou, Paris, June 6-September 17, 2007]. Munich ; New York : Prestel, 2007. 

Bernadac, Marie-Laure. Annette Messager : mot pour mot : textes, écrits et entretiens. Dijon : Les Presses du réel ; Londres : Violette Ed., 2006. 

Kristeva, Julia ; Semin, Didier ; Pagé, Suzanne... [et al.]. Casino : Annette Messager : [exhibition, French Pavilion, 51st Venice Biennale, from June 12th to November 6th, 2005]. Paris : Xavier Barral Ed. : Paris-Musées, 2005. 

Messager, Annette ; Barral, Xavier ; Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris (Paris)... [et al.]. Annette Messager : sous vent : [exposition, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Couvent des Cordeliers, 9 juin-3 octobre 2004]. Paris : Paris-Musées : Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, ARC, 2004. 

Grenier, Catherine. Annette Messager. Paris : Flammarion : Centre national des arts plastiques, 2000. (La Création contemporaine). 

***   All materials available at the Documentation Centre of the Fondation  ***

The Other Artists

Anicka Yi

Born in 1971, in South Korea 
Lives and works in New York (United States)

Barthélémy Toguo

Born in 1967, in Cameroun 
Lives and works in Paris (France)