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Some Paris Museums

On a trip to Paris in mid-January 2007 we visited a number of museums that we had not been to previously.

First, we saw the mega-exhibition "Venice and the Orient" at the Institute of the Arab World. This is the kind of exhibit where you wait in line for 45 minutes to buy your tickets. It is extensively reviewed in Hali 149 pp 24-27. They did not allow photographs, which is too bad, because the magnificent Mameluk synagogue rug I saw was badly reproduced in the exhibition catalog. The exhibit labels were solely in French, which presumably will be remedied when the show moves to New York in the Spring. All in all, a great way to start a visit to Paris.

Later in the week, we visited the new Musee du Quai Branly, located a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower and directly across the river (by pedestrian bridge) from the Guimet Museum. Quai Branly is a world class tribal arts museum, easily worth a full day, and not to be missed. There are textiles from all over the world—tapa bark cloth from the South Pacific, Ainu jackets, costumes from the Miao and other Chinese minority people, Uzbek ikats, Indonesian ikats, carpets from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, a variety of African textiles, and a wall full of pre-Columbian Peruvian pieces. And of course non-textiles. Possibly the world’s largest collection of tribal musical instruments is contained in a multi-story storage facility in the middle of the museum; you can’t wander in the stacks, but you can see everything through the glass walls. Photography is prohibited, and only a few of the textiles are shown in the Museum Guide Book we bought. See Hali 148 pp. 55-59 for more reviews.

We went to the newly-renovated Musee des Arts Decoratifs, physically located adjacent to the Louvre. Photographs were allowed. Following the recommended path takes you on a chronological tour of French decorative arts—furniture, ceramics, interior design—from the 15th century to the 20th. Virtually no textiles. They do have a large fashion and textile section in the museum, but it was devoted to an exhibition of Balenciaga gowns.

The Cernuschi Museum is small, with a small collection of Chinese antiquities on display. The permanent collection is not worth the visit unless they also happen to have a special exhibition.

Finally, I took a zillion pictures at the Picasso Museum.

Photos are here: http://krauss.ws/p07/indexp.htm

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G'day Mr Krauss,

Very much enjoyed the pics from the Picasso museum. Thanks. Have always been fascinated by his work, and some of those pieces which you show I have not seen before in my books, which was a bonus for me.

Looking forward to your further cultural adventures.

Regards,
Martin.

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