Arts Premiers Paris at African Antiques

African Art David Norden |Mail|map Sint Katelijnevest 27. B2000 ANTWERPEN-Belgium. Tel +32 3 227 35 40
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"Un Ricard sinon rien", maybe some water ?

Pernod-Ricard group Nr 2 worldwide for wines and alcohols supports the " arts premiers "
They become nr.1 sponsor for the " musée des Arts Premiers, quai Branly" in Paris (opening January 2006). They give one million euros to construct the "bassins" and other Museum water parts .

visit the Museum website : http://www.quaibranly.fr/

New museum for Arts premiers

Tribal art has finally entered the Louvre

By Georgina Adam found at http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7170

PARIS. It used to be called “tribal” or “primitive” art, but now the correct word in French for non-European art is "premier" (meaning "first"). While the name is not yet definite, the Musée des Arts Premiers will probably be the official title of the new museum, slated to open in 2004. So far it is just the “Musée du Quai Branly”, after its location, on the left bank of the Seine tucked under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. FFr 1.1 billion (about £100 million, $142 million) has been allocated to the project which is very dear to President Jacques Chirac’s heart. The renowned French architect Jean Nouvel has been commissioned to produce a signature glass-and-steel structure for the museum. There is already an excellent, informative and comprehensive website at www.quaibranly.fr .

Buying has already started (see below), and the division of spoils from other institutions is going on, not without considerable teeth-gnashing. The present Musée d’arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie in the east of the capital will be emptied of its collections and a new attribution found for its wonderful, art deco building. The Musée de l’Homme, which belongs to the Ministry of Education and is hardly an example of its kind, will lose some of its inventory and will also be renovated.

Meanwhile, tribal art has entered the Louvre, a revolution when you consider that just 12 years ago group of 300 intellectuals including Leopold Senghor, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Leo Ferré and Peter Brook felt compelled to sign a manifesto in favour of the introduction of tribal art to the institution. The recently deceased dealer Jacques Kerchache, a long-time friend of Chirac and the mentor who introduced him to tribal art, was responsible for selecting 120 pieces which are now on view at the Pavillon des Sessions, in a dedicated 1,400 square metre space which opened last year.

Around half of the sculptures are African, with the Americas and Oceania providing another third of the exhibits; there are 28 sculptures from Oceania, three of them Kanak pieces from New Caledonia.

Buying for Branly

The new Tribal art museum, or Musée des Arts Premiers, will open in 2004 on the quai Branly, near the Eiffel Tower, with Stéphane Martin as its director. The acquisition budget of FFr 150 million (£13.7 million, $19.3 million), which covers the period 1998-2004, has already been partly spent. By January this year, FFr 66.5 million had been tapped, leaving FFr 83.5 million in the kitty. Among the purchases was an Uli statue from Melanesia, which cost FFr 18 million, and which is thought to have come from the dealer/collector Alain Schoffel. FFr 4 million was spent on a Teotihuacan mask which had belonged to André Breton, and two Inuit masks from the same collection cost FFr 2 million and FFr1.2 million. Other acquisitions testify to the diversity of the future museum, and include Miao jewellery from China, a Nias statue from the Phillipines, an Olmec figure and a Chupicuaro statuette, which will become widely known as the establishment’s logo.

$20.5 million for an Islamic art gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris.