Défense du petit format

The term small format refers to a work of reduced dimensions, generally smaller than what is considered “standard” in art. From a technical standpoint, it designates a format under 30 × 40 cm; the smallest standardized stretcher, known as 0M, thus measures 18 × 10 cm.

Throughout history, these modest dimensions have been valued for the intimacy they create with the viewer. Persian miniatures, medieval illuminations, Byzantine icons, or 17th-century easel paintings—all are condensed works, concentrating color and virtuosity. Their reduced scale fosters closeness, invites contemplation, and establishes an almost tactile relationship between the work and its owner.

Long regarded as secondary compared to large formats considered more “noble,” small formats have nonetheless persisted throughout art history. It is in homage to them that we have chosen to dedicate this exhibition.

Our second focus is to highlight the singular place of small formats in postwar art, a period dominated by the upheavals of abstraction and the triumph of the monumental. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, large formats then imposed themselves in order to envelop the viewer and affirm the power of gesture. Yet many artists continued to work in small format—as a counterpoint, an inner retreat, a space for experimentation freed from the pressure of spectacle.

The works gathered here bear witness to this. Created on canvas by artists accustomed to working on a large scale, they reveal the richness and specificity of small format: paintings in their own right, carrying an intensity that can be approached in everyday life.

Olivier Habib