news | action | information | events | contact | search | news | action | information | events | contact | search |
key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lInauguration of the Pavillon des Sessions at the Musée du LouvreSpeech given by Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic 13 April 2000 Pime Minister, This day of 13 April is a symbol of opening up to the world and of recognition. Today, over one hundred masterpieces from Africa, Insulindia, Oceania, the Americas and the Arctic make their entrance into the Louvre. At the close of almost a century of passionate controversy and debate, an art of many facets, many forms of creation and many histories, an art described as "primitive", "early" or "primordial" depending on the period or the critic, none of which terms comes close to expressing its truth, has at last and forever come within the walls of our most prestigious museum. For France, but also for many other countries engaged in this great adventure, this is a great moment, both culturally and politically, that I am deeply delighted to share with you. Politics is first and foremost a vision of the world, a relationship to the world, a series of choices. Everything in a city works towards the expression of these choices and this relationship to the world. Far from confining itself to assemblies, to official debating forums, to places where decisions are made, politics in the true sense of the word - action in service of the city - asserts itself everywhere, because nothing is neutral, because everything carries meaning. By this measure, the cultural is as significant as the educational, economic or social. And within the field of culture, museums convey a series of messages. Often they also say as much about their period, attitudes and designers as they do about the works they display. So it is that over the last twenty years, within institutions as prestigious as the Grand Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay or the Pompidou Centre and also within many other museums in the provinces, there has emerged a spirit of openness, a sensitivity to new expectations from the public that have accompanied and driven forward changes in their references, models and sources of initiation. Contemporary artistic creation has benefited substantially from this new availability which is also a declaration of purpose. Today, and this has been the case for several years, it is the arts and civilisations on which we have long held agreed views that have become the subject of this irreversible movement, made up of curiosity, generosity and respect. It has long been the case that non-Western arts, those external to our Indo-European melting-pot, have come into collections under painful circumstances, against a background of colonisation. For Europe, it was a time of conquest and economic expansion, but for the colonised nations it was also a time of humiliation and suffering, described by Jean-Paul Sartre as an "enormous nightmare". Gradually, step by step throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, we have built new relationships with these countries, relationships based on understanding, mutual respect, dialogue and exchange. Little by little, the West has taken the measure of the cultural dimension of these civilisations, in all its diversity, complexity and richness, a dimension long overlooked by arrogance and ethnocentric attitudes. The time had come to bring greater visibility to these new relationships, under the sign of recognition, sharing and fraternity. It is for this reason that I was keen that the early arts should in the year 2000 find their rightful place in the museum institutions of France. "Early Arts", "Primitive Arts". The terms are conventional and thus convenient, even if they do give rise to disputes over semantics. To my mind, however, they present the double failing of defining societies in terms not of their specific characteristics but of their single contribution to the aesthetic history of the west and, worst of all, to have the presumption to categorise whole peoples as being without a history. There is no greater injustice than to deny a people the right to a history. It is for this reason also, so that civilisations should be approached through their own particular existence and historic standing, to bear witness to the contribution made to human genius by the less well-known regions of the world, that I wanted to see a future Musée du Quai Branly and the permanent presence in these rooms, in this Salle des Sessions, of these masterpieces from far-flung areas of the world. The Musée du Louvre is, and has been since its inception, a museum of history and the generous substitute for a journey in time and space. Early Arts have not always been absent from the Louvre. From the curiosities cabinet of Vivant Denon, the ethnographic collections of the Musée Dauphin brought back by Bougainville, Lapérouse, Duperrey or Dumont d'Urville, by way of the thrilling experience of the American museum, the art of five continents has played a part in the history of this wonderful museum. Many of the works on display in the Pavillon des Sessions are possibly returning to within a few metres of the spot on which they were first exhibited in the West. Why, then, this entry into or return to the Louvre ? Because the Louvre is more than simply one of the great museums of the world. It is also, like it or not, the dispenser of a prestige, a renown from which it would be unfair to exclude whole civilisations. I know that the Louvre, supported by its Managing Director, is anxious to set limits to its extensive field of competencies. That it proposes to become a museum of Western art and the direct sources thereof, rather than a universal museum, taking its place among the "specialist" museums that so harmoniously compose the Parisian landscape along the sweep of the Seine. The next exponent will be the Musée Guimet, soon to reopen its doors after a renovation which promises to be remarkable. Allow me nevertheless to underline how much it means for the countries of origin to see their cultures acknowledged as worthy of representation within these walls. No doubt this is the price of success. The Louvre, an emblem of culture, is indeed a place of symbolic consecration. As proof, I cite the enthusiastic responses provoked by the principle of siting this outpost of the Musée du Quai Branly here in the Louvre, reactions which I have encountered in my visits to the countries represented here. More convincing still is the presence of your Excellencies here today. I am delighted that the works on display here in the Salle des Sessions can now be set in the context of the many forms of artistic expression present in the Louvre. In this, because it offers a possibility of connection with other cultural productions, this place is a manifesto bearing a powerful message. As long as the message needs to be transmitted, as long as the Louvre remains in the eyes of the public the symbol of recognition that it is today, these rooms will perform a rightful function. The message is, of course, all the stronger for the presence of emotion and the aesthetic shock is violent. This immense task, and the immense knowledge of Jacques Kerchache, coupled with the great talent of Jean-Michel Wilmotte, are to be saluted. It is to them that we owe the coherence, the legibility and the beauty of the journey ahead of us. They have been most efficiently served by the experience of the Etablissement Public des Travaux Culturels, headed by Jean-Claude Moreno. The objective of this Salle des Sessions is not, as each of us has understood, to offer a condensed cultural history of the four continents, but rather to provide an informed anthology that is subtle and inspired, presenting a hundred or more masterpieces for us to see, feel and understand and yet remain in harmony with the architecture of the Louvre. Jacques Kerchache and his exceptional knowledge of the world body of works, Jean-Michel Wilmotte and his admirable familiarity with the palace have made a success of this difficult challenge. I thank them for it. They have received massive support from all sides. I am thinking of all those museums that have, through their deposits, rounded out the works from the national collections of the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. I am thinking also of those collectors, excited by the project, who have made such generous donations. Warmest thanks go to all of them. I am thinking of the countries of origin of the works that have also agreed to loans or deposits. Generosity, enthusiasm and imagination have indeed all come together at the Pavillon des Sessions. Tomorrow, in 2004, it will be the turn of the Musée du Quai Branly to be inaugurated, simultaneously with the realisation of a concept and an idea. The idea is to move definitively onwards from the absurd quarrel between the aesthetic approach and the ethnographic or scientific approach. Simply because there can be no real love of the work, nor respect for its place in the advancement of humanity, without an understanding of the society and the social or mystical forces that prompted its creation. The idea is to offer for the understanding, in the Western presentation of non-European arts and societies, an historic depth that the colonial spirit or a fascination with a state of nature had too often neglected. The idea is to launch a vast policy of collaboration and exchange between all the nations or regions represented. Cultural and scientific co-operation agreements have already been signed with overseas states or territories, paving the way for common projects such as temporary exhibitions, scientific databases or multimedia. Such is the basis for the philosophy of the future Musée du Quai Branly, a philosophy magnificently served by Jean Nouvel, whose project is currently on display at the Pompidou Centre. As a place for discovery and listening, the new museum will seek to restore to the works all their primacy and force of emotion while at the same time offering a number of historic, functional and contextual keys by which they may be read. As a place of display and conservation of collections, most from the present collections of the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, the museum will also be a centre for research, teaching, co-operation and the national and international dissemination of knowledge. It will be an invaluable tool at the service of researchers and students, both French and foreign, adding to an already high quality ensemble comprising the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, the CNRS, the Museum and the Ecole des Langues Orientales. It is from this standpoint that the dual governance of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education is as pertinent as it is original. As a tool for social reconciliation and recognition, it will be a forum for fruitful cultural confrontation for the younger generations. The Musée du Quai Branly will therefore need to become a place of learning and exploration, of encounter and collaboration, open to the world and on the world. I would like to thank all those who, since 1996, have associated themselves with this adventure and made it possible, first and foremost among them Prime Ministers Lionel Jospin and Alain Juppé, who have always given unfailing support to the project, Ministers of Education Claude Allègre and François Bayrou, Ministers of Culture Cathérine Trautmann and Alain Douste-Blazy, not forgetting, for the very sinews of war themselves, the successive Ministers of Finance. Thanks to all of these, the Quai Branly project whose first expression has been unveiled here today at the Pavillon des Session is indeed what every great cultural project should be : a project for the whole of France. I would also like to thank those who, day after day, transform ideas into reality. I am thinking here of people like Jacques Friedman, who was chairman of the preliminary planning commission and then of the Musée du Quai Branly steering committee, of the Chairman of the national museum, Stéphane Martin, and all his team whose skills and commitment I would like to salute. Thanks to all of you, a new chapter is being written in the history of relationships between France and non-Western countries. Thanks to all of you, Paris will be able to pride itself on yet another great museum to add to its tally of some of the finest museums in the world, starting with the Grand Louvre. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all. Source: l'Elysée related links :
|
a new |
|
