Three shortlisted artists of the 6th Jean-François Prat Contemporary Art Prize, Jonathan Gardner, Li Qing and Avery singer, were unveiled by Florence Derieux on June 27, 2017.

 

The 6th Jean-François Prat Contemporary Art Prize was hosted by Florence Derieux，Curator-at-large of Centre Pompidou (Paris).

 

To celebrate the memory of Jean-Francois Prat, who died on 26 March 2011, and who was a passionate art collector, the partners of the law firm Bredin Prat in Paris, which he co-founded, and his family, wanted to pay tribute to him by creating a contemporary art prize.

 

Created in 2012, the Jean-Francois Prat Prize seeks to promote mainly contemporary painting and to support emerging artists of any nationality. The Jean-Francois PRAT Prize is a program from the Bredin Prat non-profit Fund for Contemporary Art.

 

ARTISTIC COMMITTEE & ARTIST SELECTION PROCESS

 

The Jean-Francois Prat Prize is by invitation only. The Prize is not based on any call for proposals or open application for artists or art galleries to submit works.

 

Every year, a Selection Committee seeks out artists from around the world then contacts directly the shortlisted artists and galleries.

 

The Selection Committee of the Prize includes specialists from different areas of the art world:

– Marie-Aline PRAT, art historian and author of several books and articles on art

– Anaël PIGEAT, art critic, editor at large of The Art Newspaper France

– Odile BURLURAUX, curator at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris

– Frédéric BRIÈRE, executive director of the Bredin Prat foundation for contemporary art

– Frédéric BONNET, art critic and independent curator

 

The Jean-Francois Prat Prize thanks collector Hervé ACKER (2012-2013) and senior curator

 

Juliette LAFFON (2012-2016) who contributed to the Selection Committee during many years.

 

Each autumn the Selection Committee presents an initial pre-selection of eight artists to the Bredin Prat partners, who are not art professionals and who issue their opinion. Before Christmas, the committee deliberates and decides on the three shortlisted artists for the year. The Jury then votes to select the winning artist.

 

CHAIRPERSON

 

Each year a leading specialist from the world of art, culture or business chairs the specific year’s edition of the Prize, hears the representatives from the three specialist fields, votes and presents the Prize to the winning artist at the cocktail held at the offices of the law firm Bredin Prat in Paris to which the Press and leading figures from the world of art, culture and business are invited.

 

Since the Prize’s inception in 2012, the following key people have honoured the Jean-Francois Prat Prize by accepting to chair an edition:

 

• Bernard BLISTENE, Executive Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne (MNAM) – Centre Pompidou for the 8th edition (2019)

• Marc SIMONCINI, Collector and serial entrepreneur, for the 7th edition (2018):

• Florence DERIEUX, Curator at large, Centre Pompidou, for the 6th edition (2017)

• Bertrand LAVIER, Artist, for the 5th edition (2016)

• Caroline BOURGEOIS, Chief Curator of the Pinault Collection, for the 4th edition (2015)

• Christian LANGLOIS-MEURINNE, President of the Society of Friends of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Managing General Partner of IDI, for the 3rd edition (2014)

• Jennifer FLAY, Director of the FIAC Paris art fair, for the 2nd edition (2013)

• Jean-Jacques AILLAGON, former French Culture Minister, former President of the Pompidou Centre and of the Château, Museum and National Heritage of Versailles, for the first edition (2012)

 

THE BREDIN PRAT FOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

 

Anyone who has access to works of art as part of their daily professional or private lives is very fortunate. The Bredin Prat Foundation for Contemporary Art is a non-profit organization (legally, in French, a “Fonds de dotation”), serving the general public interest, with the aim of supporting, promoting, and developing all forms of contemporary artistic creation, as well as artistic heritage.

 

The main objectives of the Foundation are:

 

To discover and support emerging artists from around the globe through the Jean-François Prat Prize, which encourages contemporary painting every year

 

To build an international contemporary art collection based on bidimensional works (paintings and photos) and open it to the general public.

 

The Foundation’s collection focuses on “what makes a picture”: paintings and photographic works. It mainly supports contemporary painting and, to a slightly lesser degree, photographic works, notably art photography.

 

The collection is international: it allows artists of different nationalities to interact and familiarize themselves with the specificities of the French art scene and to exhibit their work in France; at the same time, it allows French artists to gain access to the international art scene. The collection therefore strengthens ties between the French and international art scenes.

 

The Foundation acquires works of art directly, but also displays artworks on loan from its members, free of charge.

 

The Bredin Prat Foundation seeks to reach a wide public by showing its collection for free, with guided tours at the premises of its headquarters at 53 quai d’Orsay in Paris by appointment four to six times a year, through online interactive access via its website, and through social media by presenting its latest acquisitions, exhibitions, and events. It also welcomes researchers, and disseminates its collection through temporary loans, free of charge, to public and private institutions.