Elles@centrepompidou : women artists in the collection of the Musée national d'art moderne, centre de création industrielle

At a time when modern historians are focusing on the large number of major female figures who have been forgotten and as the presence and impact of women in contemporary art continues to grow, it seems fitting that a museum should, for the first time and on a scale unrivalled by any other institution (over 8 000 m² of galleries, approximately 500 works ranging from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, by over 200 artists of every nationality), devote more than half of its collections to a single category : women.

This is more a manifesto than a theme for an exhibition : women artists are now numerous, complex, versatile and radical enough - in a word, representative - to be engaged in the process of creating universal art history that tackles all the major questions of the modern world and every discipline. Neither the viewpoint adopted nor the resulting works can be limited by simplistic labels such as « feminine » or « feminist » ; these are first and foremost multifaceted artists to whom the Museum wishes to pay homage. This event is only possible because it can draw on the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, highlighting its richness and versatility.

Visual artists, designers, photographers, architects, video artists, film-makers, performance artists... these artists were pioneers during the first half of the 20^th century. Then, starting in the 1960s, at the same time historical - concerned with history ; physical - reinventing the use of the human body ; eccentric - breaking down barriers tongue in cheek ; narrative - playing with words in their works ; and lastly, contrary to popular belief, immaterial. All these characteristics constitute the themes and chapters tackled in the exhibition-collection and are used to structure the present catalogue.

Combining a wealth of illustrations with comments by the artists themselves, theoretical texts by international writers on the question of gender in art, a comparative history of women and their presence in art, make this the most complete work on women in modern art ever published in France.