French fall for controversial museum backed by former president
Print Edition
IT opened late and millions over budget amid sneering that it was an “ill-judged disaster” which bordered on being racist.
And the man who drove the project — former president Jacques Chirac — was widely written off by detractors as lowbrow, more interested in beer and sumo wrestling than the intellect.
But a decade on, the Musee du quai Branly, the Paris museum dedicated to the indigenous art and cultures of Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas, is being hailed as a massive popular success and a bridge between peoples.
Fourteen million visitors have passed through its doors, far exceeding expectations, drawn by such blockbuster shows as “Planet Mixed Race” and “Tattooers and Tattooed.”
Now the striking lizard-shaped building in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower is being renamed to honour Chirac, whose passion for Asian and African art was behind its creation.
Chirac fought a long battle with France’s museum establishment to pool their non-European collections.
Many experts were outraged that ritual objects and artifacts would be presented simply as art.
But true to his old political nickname of “Le Bulldozer,” Chirac rammed through the opposition, creating the grandest museum in Paris since the Centre Pompidou three decades earlier.
It will now be called the Musee du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac.
A new show at the museum tracing Chirac’s life-long fascination with indigenous art will feature an 18th-century Japanese Buaku theater mask that bears an uncanny resemblance to the retired politician.
For years Chirac hid his passion for Asian and Africa art behind his public persona as “Uncle Jacques,” the amiable bon vivant and flirt.
Underneath, though, was a deep-seated interest in the arts of Africa and the Pacific.
“I love Japan and I feel at home there,” Chirac once said.
Now 83, Chirac was too unwell to attend the opening of the show this week which includes works from his own private collection.
But President Francois Hollande paid tribute to his stubborn commitment to the project, praising his longtime centre-right rival — who led France from 1995 to 2007 — for standing up against the idea that the world was facing a “clash of civilizations.”
“Being president doesn’t always mean you can clear away the obstacles,” joked Hollande, who has faced months of street protests against his overhaul of labor laws.
He said institution was the fruit of a “long combat... to convince the curators of museums, and particularly the Louvre, of the necessity of opening a museum dedicated to indigenous art.
“What was obvious to Jacques Chirac,” he added, was “how could the Louvre remain a great museum if it ignored 70 percent of the world’s population” by not having permanent displays of their art.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
