Word of the Day

: December 9, 2015

objet trouvé

noun AWB-zhay-troo-VAY

What It Means

: a natural or discarded object found by chance and held to have aesthetic value

objet trouvé in Context

"Architects, too, have discovered found objects—usually substantial buildings like barns, firehouses, power stations, train depots—but the objet trouvé that Robert A. M. Stern recently transformed into a writers' penthouse and all-purpose retreat from his office below was a humble, metal-clad storage shed…." — Joseph Giovannini, Architectural Digest, July 2007

"The American sculptor Judith Scott literally concealed things: each of her cocoonlike constructions began with an objet trouvé—an umbrella, a skateboard, a tree branch, her own jewelry—around which she wound layers and layers and layers of yarn, twine, and strips of textiles until the item's identity was obscured." — Andrea K. Scott, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2014

Did You Know?

Objet trouvé comes from French, where it literally means "found object." The term entered English during the early 20th century, a time when many artists challenged traditional ideas about the nature of true art. Surrealists and other artists, for instance, held that any object could be a work of art if a person recognized its aesthetic merit. Objet trouvé can refer to naturally formed objects whose beauty is the result of natural forces as well as to man-made artifacts (such as bathtubs, wrecked cars, or scrap metal) that were not originally created as art but are displayed as such.