Little-known to the general public, this multi-talented artist, who worked alongside director Patrice Chéreau, is having his career showcased at the Mobilier national for the duration of an exhibition.

First immersed in the world of painting, Richard Peduzzi became a set designer in the late 1960s for Patrice Chéreau. This partnership lasted until the filmmaker's death in 2013. In the meantime, he also designed sets for exhibitions and museums. At the same time, he lends his light to interior design projects and a line of furniture and carpets. In short, Richard Peduzzi is more than just a theater and opera set designer: he's a multidisciplinary artist - an overused expression in recent years, but one that is amply justified in his case. The Mobilier National has taken on the task of recounting this rich career through some one hundred paintings and drawings, sketches and models of theater and opera sets, as well as pieces of furniture such as lighting fixtures, carpets and other objects.

The exhibition also evokes the birth of Peduzzi's artistic vocation, in the wake of an often-absent father who also saw painting as a vocation, but never fully embraced it. Growing up in the ruins between Le Havre and Verneuil-sur-Avre in the aftermath of the Second World War, he was deeply influenced by the port aesthetics of containers and shipyards. But he was not satisfied with drawing and painting. He found fulfillment in the creation of theater sets, where he was able to combine painting and architecture, and which enabled him, in his own words, to "build his painting". To the industrial world, he associated the light of Flemish primitive painters and Renaissance architecture. Among the plays and operas staged by Chéreau in which Peduzzi officiates are such great successes as the Ring for the Bayreuth Festival Centenary in 1976, and Hamlet in Avignon in 1988.

But it's not just theater that plays a role in Richard Peduzzi's life. The Mobilier National is keen to present icons from its design repertoire, such as the rocking chair or the pyramid table. This exercise in furniture design does not, however, detract from his work for the stage, constituting "the same enigma as the research and invention of an entire architecture". As he explains: "Sometimes, in the lines, perspectives and shapes of a piece of furniture, new architectures appear. Inversely, in certain architectures, I find the design of a table, a secretary or a display case."
An exhibition not to be missed under any circumstances for those who enjoy immersing themselves in the richness of the decorative arts.

" RICHARD PEDUZZI. PERSPECTIVE. MOBILIER, DÉCORS, DESSINS"
MOBILIER NATIONAL - GALERIE DES GOBELINS
42, AVENUE DES GOBELINS, PARIS 13E
UNTIL DECEMBER 31, 2024
MOBILIERNATIONAL.CULTURE.GOUV.FR