[MSN] http://www.theartnewspaper.com/. Is President Chirac's long-awaited museum of non-Western art a success? The Musée du Quai Branly in Paris is visually stimulating, but not always enlightening.

[MSN]

Is President Chirac’s long-awaited museum of non-Western art a success?

The Musée du Quai Branly in Paris is visually stimulating, but not always
enlightening


By Martin Bailey | Posted 10 August 2006 

   
 A new home for France’s ethnographic collections at the feet of the Eiffel
Tower 
 
 
PARIS. The Musée du Quai Branly opened in Paris on 23 June, after a decade
of planning and building. Designed by Jean Nouvel, the new museum of
non-Western art is located in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Named after
its location by the Seine, the project is the first major Parisian museum
since the Musée d’Orsay in 1986. 

President Chirac said the museum “is the result of a political desire to see
justice rendered to non-European cultures”. Quai Branly unites two main
collections: 237,000 ethnographic objects from the Musée de l’Homme and
23,000 from the Musée National des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie. 

The new museum, headed by Stéphane Martin, is jointly funded by the Ministry
of Culture & Communications and the Ministry of National Education, Research
& Technology. Total building and establishment costs were E233m, and the
operating budget for the current year is E44m. 

Nouvel’s building stands on stilts in a dramatic garden. The architecture
and design of the gallery space is striking, although at times it tends to
overwhelm the collection. 

The permanent collection is in one enormous single space, running the total
200-metre length of the building. The gallery has a central walkway, dubbed
“the river”, bordered by curving, leather-covered walls, with video displays
and texts. 

Nouvel’s interior is intended to have an organic feel; he wants it to be
“poetic and disturbing”. Each of the four geographical areas (Africa, Asia,
Oceania and the Americas) are separate, but interconnected. 

What is immediately striking is that the entire space is darkened, with the
exhibits spotlighted. Many ethnographic objects require low lighting for
conservation reasons, but the spotlighting does create problems, sometimes
making it difficult to read the labels. 

Spotlighting also subtly changes our perception of the objects. Darkness
lends an air of mystery, perhaps reinforcing views that non-Western art is
strange and exotic. Aesthetically, the lighting distorts objects, presenting
them in a way their makers never intended them to be seen. 

It is immediately clear that the Quai Branly collection is being presented
as art, not ethnography. Although there are explanatory texts and labels,
these are brief, and are not of the kind which would be provided in most
Western museums of non-Western cultures. 

One also suspects that the Quai Branly curators have selected works for
display that are dramatic. This choice tends to emphasise the differences
between cultures, rather than common elements. The result is a giant cabinet
of curiosities, visually stimulating, but not always enlightening. 

Altogether there are 3,500 works on display, out of the 300,000 artefacts in
the collection, most of which were acquired during the colonial period.
There are currently no formal restitution claims, other than a few for human
remains from New Zealand and Vanuatu (at present the museum is not permitted
to deaccession). 

During the establishment of the new museum, a further 8,150 objects were
acquired, around 30% by purchase and the remainder by donation. The most
important acquisition is in the main gallery: an imposing tenth century
pre-Dogon (Mali) wooden sculpture, symbolising immortality, purchased with a
donation from AXA insurance. 

The study collection is mainly held in huge storage vaults beneath the
garden. The proximity of the Seine raised serious concerns, and what is
effectively an underground fortress was constructed, with waterproof casing
to protect against seepage from the river. 

Nearly all the 300,000 items are catalogued and illustrated online
(www.quaibranly.fr). There are also four special collections held in store:
textiles, photographs, musical instruments and historical material. 

Two temporary exhibition galleries are suspended above the permanent
collection. A larger exhibition space, the Garden Gallery, will host more
ambitious shows. This is not yet open, but will be inaugurated on 18
September with “D’Un Regard l’Autre”, about how Europeans have regarded
non-Western societies. 


What’s in a name?


The title of the museum has generated endless debate. Initially, “arts
primitifs” was considered, but this sounded too patronising. “Arts premiers”
was also on the agenda, although it is a rather meaningless and possibly
condescending term. “Non-Western” or “non-European” is now used, although
some find these negative tags. Officially, the museum’s contents are
described as the “Arts and civilisations of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the
Americas” but this is cumbersome. To confuse matters, collections of ancient
Asian material are held at the Louvre and the Musée Guimet. The formal title
is the Musée du Quai Branly, a reference to its geographical location. But
will this change? Last month, when asked whether the museum might eventually
be named after him, President Chirac responded that it would be “a great
honour”. It may therefore end up being the Musée Chirac, although this would
only reinforce the views of critics who regard the museum as an extension of
French colonialism. 

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