Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity

Borrowing its title from the French national motto, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity provides a vibrant picture of design in France from the 1940s to today. A catalogue for a 2011 exhibition presented by The Wolfsonian–Florida International University in collaboration with M/M and Alexandra Midal, it investigates how objects embody the ideas that have defined French public life for more than two centuries. Featured objects include furniture, industrial design and craft by some of the most celebrated French designers of the present and recent past, including Roger Tallon, Pierre Paulin, Philippe Starck and the Bouroullec Brothers. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity includes essays by Marianne Lamonaca, Emilia Philippot and Alexandra Midal, each providing a framework for understanding French design and its relationship to national identity. A visual essay, organized in nine thematic clusters, offers color images of each object in the exhibition.