In a global and timeless approach, A Banquet of Wonders, Delighting in the World, is an art book to be read, a stone for contemporary thinking on art nouveau
and the art of living.
The doors of the book are opened by Ryoko Sekiguchi, who “makes the objects of the banquet speak” by animating them, turning our reading upside down and decentring our gaze—before we discover the original pieces brought together by Benjamin Loyauté. Jean-Louis Gaillemin, for his part, offers a manifesto that is important for the history of art, immersing the reader in Art Nouveau and its relationship with abstraction. Yves Élie takes the banquet to the bees, shedding light on everything we owe to this essential species. Laure Ménétrier anchors our approach historically by exploring the figures of Charles Perrier and Henri Gallice, linking botany and the need to collect with the foundations of Maison Perrier-Jouët. In the afterword, Axelle de Buffévent recalls the links between artists, designers and Perrier-Jouët.
