The Art Newspaper

Controversy over planned Marc Jacobs show

Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris is being accused of a “conflict of interest”

By Gareth Harris. From Art Basel Miami Beach daily edition
Published online: 30 November 2011

Marc Jacobs

paris. Les Arts Décoratifs, the decorative arts museum in Paris, is being accused of a “conflict of interest” over its plans to host an exhibition devoted to fashion designer Marc Jacobs, right, and Louis Vuitton, the 19th-century founder of the famous luggage company. Jacobs is the creative director of Louis Vuitton while French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the chairman of the luxury goods group LVMH, which owns Vuitton, sits on the museum’s board of trustees.

The move has prompted French art critic Didier Rykner, who runs the website La Tribune de l’Art, to question the museum’s motives. “Exhibi­tions on Louis Vuitton are not essential. There should not be such shows in museums linked to LVMH because of the possibility of a conflict of interest,” he says. A show on Vuitton was also held at the Musée Carnavalet, a museum run by the City of Paris, in 2010.

Marie-Liesse Baudrez, the director of Les Arts Décoratifs, defended her decision: “This accusation does not stand up. First, the museum has developed the exhibition, which was devised by one of our curators, in an independent and autonomous fashion. Second, the trustees have no say in exhibition programming.” The show is scheduled to open in March.