Beyond the Arabian Nights. Orientalist Retellings
Containing some 300 masterpieces, the exhibition takes visitors on a voyage through the multiple lives of objects of the Orient, from the Middle Ages to today. From Paris to Isfahan, from the Alhambra to Cairo, and from Constantinople to Venice and Algiers, it presents a constellation of stories, where historical and imaginary accounts intermingle, to uncover and decipher the fascination for what was known as “the Orient”.
From church treasuries to French royal collections and from artist’s studios and collector’s interiors to museums of yesterday and today, the exhibition resituates these artworks in their historical and chronological context. It invites us to see the objects in a different light and hear their many and diverse voices, reminding us that Orientalisms – imagined, debated and contested – also tell the story of Europe and its own collective imagination.
The exhibition contains an extremely wide range of objects: ceramics, paintings, sculptures, photographs, ancient objects, church treasures, jewellery, clothing, gold objects and contemporary installations. The performing arts are also present in the exhibition with Molière, Rameau, opera, cinema and even cabaret.
Today, we look at most of these artworks in museums. Each of their histories is totally unique and that is the premise of the exhibition – to show the various and differing paths of the objects, from the Middle Ages to today. Some went from being in church treasuries to becoming museum showpieces, sometimes becoming a repository for invented projections, legends and misunderstandings. Most came from commercial or diplomatic trade, from missions or from the purchase of travel souvenirs.
Although most of the collections were formed in the 19th century, there was already a massive influx during the medieval period, as international trade and diplomatic exchanges existed well before the 19th century and today’s globalisation. In the current context of the transparency of collections and postcolonial studies, to understand where the artworks come from, and how and why they were conserved or placed within a hierarchy, is to share the history of the collections with the public.
Even though the exhibition follows a chronological order, the objects are presented in the era in which they became known in France. This is the case for the Baptistery of Saint Louis, an artwork dating from the 14th century, but presented in the 18th century, as its legend was being created. The Louvre-Lens, as demonstrated in the Gallery of Time covering 5,000 years of history in a single space, takes a long-range view of history. This exhibition goes from the Middle Ages to the present day, reminding us that objects bear the memory of their different uses but also that of the successive gazes directed at them. These fifteen invited contemporary artists give us insight into how to revisit these legacies, how to shift the viewer’s gaze and provide new readings that can continue to structure and challenge the present.
Contemporary artists have a different yet complementary view to that of historians. Their vision is vital for shining a light on, questioning and truly seeing the stories of the objects and of humans. Throughout the exhibition, some fifteen contemporary counterpoints put our knowledge into perspective and offer different and internalised readings of Orientalist stories.
Artworks by contemporary artists are interspersed throughout the exhibition; they enter into conversation with the historical periods they echo. An artist such as Nil Yalter, through the example of dance, has been challenging stereotypes and legacies since the 1970s. Kader Attia’s broken and then repaired plates question the wounds of history and the possibility of reparation. These artworks offer critical readings that extend and shift the narratives. They show that the history of Orientalism is not over: by disorienting or reorienting, the artists are reaffirming that Orientalist stories are still being debated and retold.
The exhibition scenography was designed by a creative trio comprising artistic directors Philippine Ordinaire and Bertrand Houdin, accompanied by Mathis Boucher, architectscenographer at the Louvre-Lens.
Designed to be an artwork in itself, the scenography was inspired by the world of theatre and opera. As such, it was developed with an interplay of curtains and hanging folds of fabric in blocks of colour, as well as in large printed black-and-white patterns from the Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones.
Philippine ORDINAIRE, Scenographer
Philippine Ordinaire studied at the Saint Martin College of Arts in London and is a theatre scenographer. She was worked for the Opera de Valence and the Comédie-Française.
Bertrand HOUDIN, Artistic director
Co-founder of the Anamorphée creative studio and the amateur art journal Profane, Bertrand Houdin works in the fields of culture, the luxury industry and the visual arts.
Once we received the curators’ brief and the list of artworks, we created a mood board with images related to the subject and everything it inspired: colours, shapes, characters, photographs, quotes, phrases… And out of this free and intuitive landscape, a guiding line emerged.
The idea was not to provide a “literal” vision or illustration of the Orient, but rather to examine what ideas or images it generates in the collective imagination. We questioned representations of the Orient by evoking the imagination, dreams and reverie. These evocations take shape in the exhibition through large Oriental patterns printed in black and white. The drawings come from a book by architect Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, dating from the 19th century.
In our original scenographic project, we imagined large open curtains between each space, but also Oriental carpets on the floor. But gradually, as we became more familiar with the Louvre- Lens, which is a light-filled and contemporary environment with a concrete floor, we knew we had to blend more into the space. It seemed natural to not fight against this style, but rather work with it. So, in addition to the giant motifs, we chose to use colours blocks to provide rhythm to
the visit and enhance certain spaces, by alternating with the white walls. Calm elements are interspersed with colourful highlights to showcase the artworks. For example, in the gallery dedicated to collector Albert Goupil, who collected many Persian carpets in warm red shades, we chose an almond green with subtle tones.
Bibliothèque municipale de Soissons – Soissons
Centre des Monuments Nationaux / DRAC Grand Est / Palais du Tau – Reims
Centre national du costume de scène (CNCS) – Moulins
Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles / Fondation Roi Baudouin / Tre.Ma – Namur
Fondation Francès – Clichy
Galerie Mennour – Paris / London
Galerie Mor Charpentier – Paris
Galerie Polaris – Paris
La Piscine – Musée d’art et d’industrie André Diligent – Roubaix
Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains – Tourcoing
Le Panoptique, Musée Rolin – Autun
Les Abattoirs – Frac Occitanie Toulouse – Toulouse
Lisson Gallery – Paris / New York
Manufacture et Musée nationaux – Sèvres
Mairie d’Arnac-la-Poste – Arnac-la-Poste
Mobilier National – Paris
MuCEM – Marseille
Musée d’art contemporain [mac] – Marseille
Musée d’Orsay – Paris
Musée de l’Armée – Paris
Musée de la musique de la Philharmonie de Paris – Paris
Musée de l’Orangerie – Paris
Musée des Arts décoratifs (MAD) – Paris
Musée des Beaux-Arts – Chartres
Musée des Beaux-Arts – Valenciennes
Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie – Troyes
Musée du Louvre – Département des Arts de l’Islam – Paris
Musée du Louvre – Département des Arts graphiques – Paris
Musée du Louvre – Département des Objets d’art – Paris
Musée du Louvre – Département des Peintures – Paris
Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac – Paris
Musée national de la Renaissance – Écouen
Musée national Eugène Delacroix – Paris
Musée national du Moyen Âge – Musée de Cluny – Paris
Musée Paul-Dupuy – Toulouse
Musées de Langres – Langres
Opéra national – Paris
The Pill Gallery – Paris / Istanbul