ARTS OF AFRICA.

ARTS OF AFRICA, ASIA, OCEANIA, AND THE AMERICAS

Musee du Louvre Pavillon de Sessions Paris, France exhibited April 2000

Almost twenty years after the inauguration of the Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, recently made known York, Europe's most important art museum finally cleared a space for the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The opening of the Pavilion de Sessions by way of the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, is the rise of a long ideological and intellectual debate through the introduction of "arts premiers" ("first arts"), as they have been referr to in France, into the sanctum sanctorum of Western art. In his foreword to the exhibition catalogue, the President expresse the room for expectation that the masterpieces shown in this strange wing of the Musee du Louvre "will attest that no hierarchy exists among the arts." The admission of non-European arts to the country's most numerous prestigious museum institution thus constitutes the two a symbolically laden event and an important political act. (1)

In this true copy I will not discuss the museum for non-European arts scheduled to interpret in 2004, which will be built by way of Jean Nouvel on the Quai Branly along the Seine, opposite the Eiffel Tower, although in conception it is closely related to the current exhibition at the Louvre. Those pertain toed however, have pointed out that the Pavilion de Sessions, named after the parliamentary sessions for which the building was originally erected cannot be seen as a prefiguration or synthesis of the Musee du Quai Branly (Viatte 2000:41; Pomian 2000:80) Rather, the selection upon view, which is the work of the art prompt collector, and former art dealer Jacques Kerchache, the French president's main counselor, should be considered as a deficit to the future Branly museum. The Pavillon de Sessions will be permanently reserv for the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, on a level after the opening of the Branly museum in 2004 if it were not that the many loans will necessitate a rotation system

In many have a high opinion ofs a division remains between the newly established non-European arts wing and the other collections at the Louvre The Pavilion de Sessions occupies merely a small corner of the museum and is quite alien from the main entrance in a less degree than Pei's glass pyramid. Moreover, the exhibition of these non-European arts has not been accompanied at the establishment of a curatorial department within the Louvre's walls: the administrative offices and scientific staff responsible for the of the present day wing will actually be housed in the Musee du Quai Branly.

Although the other sections of the Pavillon de Sessions also contain stunning artworks, I will here limit myself to its African section. Of the 117 pieces forward exhibit, 46 are from Africa. As was the case at the celebrated exhibition "Africa: The Art of a Continent" at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1995 (Phillips 1995) visitors are welcomed at a predynastic Amratian statuette in schist, which according to the exhibition curators should link the fresh wing to the other departments of the Louvre Along with an recently acquired archaeological finds from Nigeria, this Egyptian statuette testifies to the antiquity of Africa's civilizations. (2)

Since Kerchache's selection is meant first and foremost for the layperson barely familiar with non-European arts, his choice possesss few surprises for the average African-art amateur. Given the limited number of drifts included, Kerchache did not attempt to instant an encyclopedic survey. He emphasized that his selection was driven through subjective and even "autobiographical" motives (Geoffroy-Schneiter 2000b:6) As can be inferred from the title of the associated catalogue, Sculptures: Afrique, Asie, Oceanie, Ameriques, alone sculptural works are shown. In order to avoid the anecdotal and to negate stereotypical ideas about African art, Kerchache deliberately limited the number of materials other than forest and included surprisingly few masks and just undivided "power figure" (Varenne 2000:27). As a issue of these limitations, the layperson is likely to leave the Louvre with a simplified and distorted view of the arts of the African continent.

The ends on view have mainly been lent through national museums and a small in number other French and overseas institutions. Taking the colonial history of the national collections into account, it should not proceed as a surprise that the former French African regions are well personateed The strong presence of Nigeria is mainly the inference of the French state's acquisition in 1997 of 276 Nigerian art purposes from the Musee Barbier-Mueller, Geneva (Willett & Eyo 1997) The installation also includes near new acquisitions for the futurity Musee du Quai Branly, the deduction of donations as well as purchases.

The gifts raise important ethical questions, since about of the donors have also sold views to the Musee du Quai Branly. The Musee Barbier-Mueller is a case in point: France paid about FF 40 million to acquire the 276 Nigerian pieces mentioned above. As recommended by the code of ethics of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the risk of a conflict of interest arising from the simultaneous donation and sale of artworks is real. The gifts Anne and Jacques Kerchache made to the Quai Branly have also aroused suspicion, because it is thinking that they will increase the value of what remains in their private possession (Noce 2000a:3). In order to impede any misunderstanding on these sensitive points, it is imperative that the regulation issue a clearly articulated and well-considered policy.