2019 guest : the Piscine de Roubaix

As guest of the Fine Arts Paris 2019 edition, La Piscine – Musée d’Art et d’industrie André Diligent de Roubaix will present a museum-quality exhibition at the fair.

This exhibition will sum up the spirit of the museum with a selection from its collection.

Roubaix-la-Piscine. Architect A.Baert, 1932 ; J-P Philippon, 2001 et 2018. Photos : A. Leprince

La Piscine–Musée d’Art et d’Industrie André-Diligent in Roubaix, France, is a true success story: a municipal building typical of the 1920s has been converted into a museum that is praised far beyond the borders of France.

Founded in 1835 by local manufacturers, the Roubaix museum made a splash on the national cultural scene when it moved in 2001 to an unusual site: a former swimming pool in the Art Deco style. In 2018, to make room for important works kept in its reserves, La Piscine was expanded by architect Jean-Paul Philippon, who had designed the original transformation in 2001. La Piscine’s collection and programming stand out in the French museum landscape.

For its exhibition at Fine Arts Paris, the museum will demonstrate its originality with a group of works that will include ceramics, sculpture, textiles, fashion and painting. The museum’s setting and history, closely linked to the industrial heritage of Roubaix, will also be addressed by recent images and archival documents.

With the support of La Piscine’s Friends Society and Circle of Patrons, the museum’s team will welcome visitors to the show with iconic works by such artists as Camille Claudel, Joseph Bernard, Marc Chagall, Jean Lurçat, Albert Braïtou-Sala, Jean-René Gauguin, Christian Astuguevieille and Marc Alberghina. The centre of the space will be occupied by an unusual, never-before-exhibited plaster by Paul Cornet (1892-1977), a sort of futuristic reinterpretation of Rodin’s The Thinker. La Piscine is seeking donors for its restoration.