The event went annual last year, and so the 2017 edition is the first to follow immediately from last year’s predecessor. In the light of this the running time will shrink from nine days to seven, from Monday, September 11, to Sunday, September 17.
The exhibitor list, which has been validated by the Biennale’s commission (comprising new president Christopher Forbes and 15 other members) numbers 95, split between France and other, mostly European, countries on a two-thirds/one-third basis.
The majority are making a return visit but the handful of newcomers include Vacheron Constantin; Montres de Witt and Montres Journe, all from Geneva and all showing watches; antiquities specialist Jean-David Cahn, also from Switzerland, and Eric Poulain from Paris with Asian art.
New selection and vetting standards and datelines have also been unveiled for the latest edition including an overhaul of the works admissions committee or CAO. To ensure the committee’s impartiality two co-presidents have been named: Frédéric Castaing, president of the National Company of Experts (CNE) and Michel Maket, president of the French Trade Union of Professional Experts in Works of Art and Collectibles (SFEP).
Among the other changes will be that neither the president nor any elected representatives of the SNA can intervene in the decisions of the CAO. Exhibitors at the Biennale may not form part of the committee which will be supported by restorers from national and international institutions.
The right of appeal on CAO decisions is limited to three objects per exhibitor and there will be a requirement for unique pieces (no series production pieces) and for works created before 2000.
The additional attraction of a loan exhibition at the Biennale will be provided this year by works from the Barbier-Muller family. This encompasses the different passions of four generations of collectors with tribal art; numismatics; 18th century paintings; Samurai art; contemporary art and 17th and 18th century books.
