A REFERENCE LIBRARY SPECIALISED IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART!

Students, art professionals, amateurs or simply curious, extend your “Museum experience” at the Jean Laude Library. Tucked away on the first floor of the Museum, its many shelves are packed with treasures, such as the first editions of avant-garde works or artist books. 
The Jean Laude library documents the Museum’s collection, aiming to be exhaustive regarding artists and movements the museum represented. It thus constitutes a reference for the study of modern and contemporary art, and contributes to an heritage collection of original, rare or precious documents. This valuable collection contains 40,000 documents, including 2/3 of exhibition catalogues, without forgetting almost 700 preserved review titles and the photographic archives of the MAMC+ exhibitions. 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF A MAJOR LIBRARY

This renowned library was set up in 1967 at the Museum of Art and Industry. It rapidly became a reference for the study of 20th and 21st century art, thanks to an active acquisition policy and regular exchanges of publications with other French and foreign museums. In 1986 it received the donation of the personal library of Jean Laude, the art historian and poet. Later, in 1993, the library received a donation from Vicky Rémy consisting in the documentation she had assembled relating to the works and artists of her own collection. These two donations reinforced the stature of the Jean Laude library within the network of art libraries. 

A ZOOM ON JEAN LAUDE

The library owes its name to Jean Laude (1922-1984), a poet, ethnologist, art historian and professor at the Sorbonne University. Jean Laude was involved throughout his life with artistic creation. He chaired conferences during the period 1970 to 1980 in Saint-Étienne on contemporary art, organized by the Museum of Art and Industry, such as The return to order in plastic arts and architecture, Art in the face of the crisis, or Cubism, amongst others. During this time he formed a friendship with Bernard Ceysson, then director of the Museum of Art and Industry (1967-1987). Ceysson wanted to pay tribute to Jean Laude by giving his name to the library at the Musée d'art moderne, on its creation in 1987.