Les 3 Cartier refers to Jacques Cartier, the man who discovered Canada in 1543, to the Saga of the Cartiers, especially to Jacques Cartier in whose office in London General de Gaulle wrote his famous rallying speech on 18 June 1940, and to the store in Paris called Les 3 Quartiers (‘quartier’ is pronounced the same as ‘Cartier’), whose name comes from a stage comedy.
Cartier is also a name in photography, thanks to Henri Cartier-Bresson…or Cartier-Brassaï. The city, the streets, torn posters and graffiti photographied by Brassaï remind us of the photos of the Grand Louvre renovation work taken by Raymond Hains, pictures that contain a history of modern sculpture.
Cartier is also the Fondation Cartier on the Boulevard Raspail, built on the site of a house that belonged to Chateaubriand, born in Saint-Malo like Jacques Cartier. Each exhibition by Raymond Hains is linked to the places, dates and circumstances that give rise to it. In Les 3 Cartier, historic events meet childhood memories, books and quotes meet remarks on art history. It is a dizzying journey through the world of images, language and memory and a new architecture to be seen and interpreted: “the architecture of air… and song, of the discourse of time and space” as Raymond Hains said, in memory of Yves Klein.
