Quai Branly Museum in Paris

Paris boasts a modern museum whose core permanent exhibitions are of traditional art in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The Musée du Quai Branly, located close to the Eiffel Tower, is a modern and "green" structure opened to the public in 2006.
Quai Branly Museum street view
La Rivière
Entering the museum is in itself an adventure--first through outdoor winding paths, in the garden, and then an interior winding path, in itself a work of art called the "River" showing words projected in the ground, moving like water.
It's quite a trip to reach the top, where the entrance to the permanent exhibits is, as well as to the current exhibition, "The Art of Hair."

Below are a few photos of the Africa section. As usual in all African traditional art exhibits, there are many pieces from the Grassland Bamiléké region's prolific artists. However, to my great surprise, there was one piece, not just from Douala, but specifically from Deido, my husband's home neighborhood! (Douala used to be 3 villages: Bonanjo, Akwa, and Deido.)
(bottom) Bow of a boat from the "Deido School of Art" (Cameroon)
Danhomé royal seat
Figurines from South Cameroon and Gabon

Colorful Téké-Tsayi pieces (Gabon-Congo)
The Museum is a little tricky to navigate with its labyrinthine style of exhibitis. What I would have liked to see as additions would be modern artists from these same regions.

For all those interested in traditional (I don't especially care for the term "indigenous"--do we say indigenous art from France?) art from Africa, it is still really worth visiting this museum.
Address: 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris; subway: Alma-Marceau
Exhibition starting November 13: Nigeria, Arts Of The Benue Valley
Location: Paris, Frankreich

Comments

Post a Comment

Please let me know your thoughts and questions. Also, if you feel that anything is incorrect, please let me know.
I need to moderate the comments, as in recent years there has been a spike in spam.

Popular posts from this blog

Recipe: Okra stew, adapted

Image
This is an adaptation of okra stew for Western kitchens. Okra is called "gombo" in Duala language (like "Gumbo" in the United States; the word arrived with the African slaves that were brought to the country). Fresh raw okra Ingredients Smoked turkey (drumsticks or wings) OR beef for stew   Onions, chopped Canned tomatoes (crushed) Bouillon cube 1-2 tbsp natural peanut butter (for example from health food store) with no added sugar Okra (fresh or frozen) – chopped, cap removed Salt/pepper If desired , scotch bonnet hot pepper, preferably red     Sauté chopped onions; add turkey or beef cut in pieces. Add chopped okra (part can be put in a blender with the tomatoes if preferred), crumbled bouillon cube, salt (not too much because of the bouillon cube and possibly salt in the turkey and peanut butter), pepper and some water; dilute peanut butter with some water and add to pot. Add hot pepper (whole) if desired. Cook over medium heat (after liqui...
Read more

West Cameroon - festive traditional dress

Image
Women dancing in celebration, wearing matching "kabas" The neighborhood chief speaking to the community In December, I was invited to a weekend of festivities in Bamendjou, West Cameroon. The occasion was the honoring of my friend, Jeanne Ntopa, to the title of Mafeu. This title appears to have been the title for the Queen Mother, but as I understood it, can now be given to women who have done much good to their community and thus are elevated to Queen Mother status. Among the Bamileke from the region called the Grasslands by the German colonialists, there are many (related) languages. Thus the language spoken in Bamendjou is only barely understood by our Mafeu's own spouse, who is from the Dschang area. I understood nothing at all on the first day; however, I could sense the joy and pride during the Mafeu's neighborhood community celebration. On the second day, the Bamendjou traditional chief, in this title since over 60 years, spoke in French as he ackno...
Read more

Bibi Seck, Industrial Designer in New York City

Image
Ayse,  Bibi, and daughters  Bibi Seck is an industrial and product designer of Senegalese and Martiniquais descent,  introduced from afar by Fatimata Ly, a Senegalese ceramics designer I wrote about last year. As a matter of fact, I had been hearing about him and his spouse, Ayse Birsel, for a while already: the New York African design community is not that large, and especially an African married to a fellow Middle Easterner (Turks are Middle Easterners as well as Europeans, with literally a foot in both worlds; and of course we had the Ottoman Empire for six centuries!). Moroso-M'Afrique collection Bibi’s stools, made in Senegal, of recycled plastic, are currently exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design’s Global Africa show. I interviewed him last week to find out what his path had been to this point. Bibi was raised between Europe and Senegal.He had planned on studying architecture at first, but then found his true vocation in Industrial D...
Read more