An international art and architecture expert from Louis Vuitton, now at Palm Springs Art Museum, promises to bring new buzz to the California desert community that has long been a destination for Hollywood, fashion and design enthusiasts.
Louis Vuitton’s former global director of art, culture and heritage Christine Vendredi joined the museum in April as chief curator, bringing with her 12 years of experience working in Paris with Fondation Louis Vuitton director Suzanne Page; chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton Fashion Group Michael Burke; designers Virgil Abloh and Nicolas Ghesquière, and others, including brainstorming architecturally significant locations for the brand’s destination cruise shows.
At LV, Vendredi managed the corporate art collection displayed in 475 stores, and oversaw art commissions and programming at Louis Vuitton art spaces around the world, including the Espace Louis Vuitton in Tokyo where she was director for four years, giving her a unique vantage point on the Pacific Rim.
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The curator and scholar holds PhDs in both art and architecture, which is a major focus of Palm Springs Art Museum. It recently added The Aluminaire House designed by A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey to its downtown campus.
Modern architecture first lured her to the desert community, during a research trip for Louis Vuitton’s 2016 cruise show, held at the John Lautner-designed Bob Hope House.
Burke had been looking to make sure Ghesquière’s cruise shows would be memorable, not only for the clothes but the conversation between the clothes and the location, and asked the team to brainstorm destinations in line with the designer’s sci-fi and outer space sensibilities. Vendredi suggested Lautner, and actually had a book on her desk about the world-famous Palm Springs architect, who designed a number of homes and notable local landmarks such as Palm Springs City Hall and the Aerial Tramway Valley Station with John Porter Clark.
“My first experience with Palm Springs happened in the preparation of that fashion show which was not my job at all,” says Vendredi, explaining that Louis Vuitton largely keeps the cultural and commercial sides of the group separate but that she did lend her expertise and contacts to some projects.
“I got the bug and returned…and got more and more into California,” she says, mentioning the evolving art, music, food, fashion and entertainment scenes as draws. “California has an incredible soft power footprint not only in street style, but in all the creative dimensions. This is what brings me here.”
WWD visited the curator at her new office, where she was still waiting for her boxes to arrive, to discuss her vision for the museum, and what skills she will be bringing from her old job to her new one.
Opened in 1958, Palm Springs Art Museum has more than 16,000 pieces, “and growing,” Vendredi says by way of explaining the marketing spin she picked up at Louis Vuitton. The museum’s collection has an emphasis on contemporary art, Western art, sculpture, studio art glass and architecture, including the Architecture and Design Center that has been financially supported by fashion designer Trina Turk, among others.
In recent years the museum has hosted a number of notable exhibitions of work by Frey, by designer and architect Alexander Girard, by transcendental artist Agnes Pelton and by California painter Wayne Thiebaud.
“I knew the museum because each time I’ve been traveling here, I’ve visited, and I still remember the Alexander Girard show…the Helen Frankenthaler and the [Robert] Longo shows…so I had the memory of some great visits,” she says. “And this is art and architecture and you don’t have many museums like that, so indeed, I had the right background for it. And I also have done an MFA in glass in Prague…and we have quite a substantial glass collection. I only learned about that in the interview process.”
Vendredi also fell in love with the architecture of the museum’s three satellite buildings, “which are actually documenting different stages of the International style,” she says. “You’ve got the Aluminaire House which is International style from Paris to Palm Springs. Then you have the Architecture and Design building from 1961 [designed by E. Stewart Williams as the Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan], which is also International style with very little adaptation to the land. Then you have the Frey House II, which is desert architecture,” she says of Frey’s 1964 home, a glass and steel frame structure perched on a hillside and incorporating a boulder into the design.
Still in the process of looking for her own home, Vendredi actually got to stay at Frey House II for a couple of weeks. “It was incredible, but at the same time I was totally stressed out because being in charge of this collection, you don’t want to ruin it,” she says of playing it safe and spending most of her time sitting outside rather than risk messing up the sofa cushions.
Vendredi’s vision is to make the museum more inclusive of local communities, including LGBTQIA+ and Latinx, as well as to look east for curatorial ideas.
“It’s really important that we support California and American art…but also the relationship between America and the Pacific. I’m a good candidate because of the connection I have with Japan, but also because during my tenure at Louis Vuitton I’ve been very much working with Korea and China, Australia as well.”
“Christine has such a deep expertise in art, modern architecture and glass — all disciplines that hold widespread interest in our community,” says Adam Lerner, JoAnn McGrath executive director of Palm Springs Art Museum. “It almost seemed too good to be true that Christine checked every box on our wishlist. We are thrilled for Christine to lead the curatorial vision of the museum.”
Although museum development is not her role, her contacts in the luxury fashion world also can’t hurt. “And my friends are not only at LV, some are at Gucci, Prada and Richemont,” she says.
Besides potential dollars, Vendredi brings expertise in positioning and communications learned at LVMH.
“We had a saying that if you know how to do something but don’t communicate it, it’s a loss,” she says, adding of her experience at the luxury giant, “We have the savoir faire and the faire savoir. And all of that goes hand to hand. So for me when thinking of programming, I’m also thinking how it will be promoted and how it will be received.”
Her first project will be to rehang the museum’s modern and contemporary galleries. “The collection is very rich in Op Art,” she says during a tour of the permanent collection, pointing out an acrylic aluminum piece with a rippling color effect by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam.
“I also love Lita Albuquerque,” she says, motioning to a glowing piece by the contemporary L.A. artist called “Sentient Solar Vapor.” “She’s one of the great SoCal artists who has been under the radar.”
Strolling (in Martin Margiela Tabi shoes) into another room, she gestures at a piece by local Cahuilla Band of Mission Indians artist Gerald Clark, “Continuum Basket: Pivaat,” made of beer and soda cans in a basket shape mounted on a wall.
“What I’d like to do is bring into the same space things happening at the same time but in different fields. I’m interested in bringing some design pieces and architecture related pieces in conjunction to what we traditionally hang,” she says.
And fashion, perhaps? The museum has only dabbled in it so far, through shows on textiles and shoes. “But not anything like a retrospective of Nicolas Ghesquière,” Vendredi says wistfully. “He does own a John Lautner house in L.A.…”
