In 2023, the Angladon Museum amazes us by exhibiting not a plastic artist, but bootmaker Raymond Massaro. Over 120 pieces, many of which are from his collaborations with Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld.
The Angladon Museum
In the shadow of the Ceccano cardinal palace (14th century), now the municipal library, a beautiful 18th century private mansion houses the collection of the fashion designer and art lover Jacques Doucet, an emblematic figure of the roaring twenties whose eye immediately noticed the importance of the great artists of his time.
We are at the Angladon Museum – Jacques Doucet Collection, a jewel of a museum where on the ground floor we can find works by Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Picasso, Modigliani and Cézanne, while the 1st floor presents an intimate space for art lovers – that of Jacques Doucet – through his collection of decorative art from Europe and the Far East from the Renaissance to the 18th century.
The top floor is dedicated to a thematic exhibition, different each year but always of high quality.
In 2023: Massaro
“A life at your feet”
“I have spent my life at your feet” the words of this heir to a line of bootmakers whose name is associated with that of the most important couturiers (Chanel, Lagerfeld, Alaïa, etc.).
For the 2023 season, the museum has plunged its visitors into the world of luxury, craftsmanship and haute couture through an exhibition of over 120 shoes made by Raymond Massaro (1929-2019) and brought together for the first time by his daughter, Laurence Massaro.
Along the way we will discover the know-how of the bootmakers, which until recently involved around twenty crafts to create a shoe, then a collection of the Massaro brand, founded in 1894, before admiring unique pieces designed for the world’s celebrities.
These include the sandal set with diamonds of a Saudi princess, the stage boots for Johnny’s concert at the Parc des Princes, the iconic boots of Karl Lagerfeld and the coloured pumps of Rose Kennedy’s America.
Inspiring, privileged and pampered clients, women play the leading role in the career and life of Raymond Massaro. He strives to invent unique models in the image of the personalities who wear them, and the occasion leading to the order.
Among shoes designed for women who neither needed to work, nor really to walk more than a few steps on a waxed parquet floor, we will admire a “two-tone” collection, timeless pumps imagined with Coco Chanel for modern, active women who wore them from morning to evening and for all occasions.
An elegant revolution at the beginning of women’s liberation.
This is an exhibition that is fascinating due to the beauty of these unique objects, sometimes moving due to the complexities suggested by these shoes, captivating due to the discovery of the many crafts around the shoe, and poetic due to these beautiful materials and literary extracts on the theme of shoes spread throughout the gallery.
Practical information
Angladon Museum
5 rue Laboureur
84000 Avignon
T. +33 (0)4 90 82 29 03
Entrance fee : €8
Guided tour on request
From the 2nd of June to the 8th of October 2023
From Tuesday to Sunday, from 13:00 to 18:00
Press contact:
Carina Istre
c.istre@angladon.com
T. +33 (0)6 79 40 56 37
©Ripert, ©Brice Toul, ©Ripert