Noir Impérial

The exhibition will bring together some forty artists and craftsmen to celebrate this “Imperial Black”, a dyeing invention, but also a mythical, innovative color, which changed the textile industry in the 19th century, especially the silk industry.

It was this “Noir Impérial” that made the Gillet family the great industrial dynasty that contributed to the growth of the city of Lyon and its region from 1834 to 1976François Gillet was born in Bully, the family's birthplace, a village located between the Monts du Lyonnais and Beaujolais regions. After his years as an apprentice dyer, he went on to study chemistry at the Ecole de la Martinière in Lyon.

​The aim of this exhibition is to celebrate the fruitful encounter between scientific creation in the mastery of materials, and artistic creation, which transcends the latter to project it into the excellence of hand craftsmanship. The “Imperial Black” will be showcased through a variety of creative media: straw marquetry, glass, ceramics, featherwork, ropework, silk, jewelry, wood, drawing, fashion, wool felt, jewelry, paper and metal art, furniture, textile art and auteur photography.

Meetings and exchanges will accompany this exhibition.

​The story of the Gillet family continues with a proposal written in the very inspiring “Imperial Black” ink, and will be embodied by a wash by Gao Xingjian, painter and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000.

​​Françoise Souchaud - Founder and President, Mirabilia Lyon