A rejuvenated museum of Asian Art

THE Guimet Museum, the largest and most important repository of Asian art in France, was not always considered a pleasure to visit. Renowned for the finest collection of Cambodian (Khmer) art in the West, it was dimly lit and overcrowded with pieces. Barring the specialist and avid museumgoer, visitors rarely left satisfied. This, surprisingly, for a country where museums of all kinds, shapes and periods abound - museums devoted to art movements, painters and sculptors; archaeological, naval or historical museums; museums for toys and small trains, combs, cutlery, harnesses and shoes, not to speak of bread, egg, chocolate and even museums of the pear and the apple.

Museology is a highly developed field in France and the public has been trained from a young age to visit museums, pay expensive entrance charges and learn to appreciate works of art. The State and the regional councils systematically subsidise the museums of their areas. It was, therefore, ironical that the Guimet Museum, that prides itself on being if not as rich as the British Museum, then certainly the most balanced when it comes to Asian Art, remained neglected for so long. It was only five years back that the Guimet was closed down and given a compete overhaul.

The renovated Museum opened its doors again a few weeks ago and the results of this overhaul are there for all to see. The interiors have been completely remodelled, new galleries added, exhibits well lit and the various collections housed more logically. Visitors just don't seem to stop pouring in. Almost 3000 visitors a day with a high of 5000 and lines of over 200 people - tourists and ordinary Parisians alike - waiting to enter the premises at virtually all hours of the day. Naturally, the extensive press coverage, by and large laudatory, has also helped. But the public has undergone a transformation. No more the traveller, collector or connoisseur of yesteryear but a public more difficult to classify, the general public.

As far as the Indian collection is concerned, there has been a rethinking and reorganisation. The Indian section in the Guimet, that ranges from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the 19th Century, has been split into two levels. As you enter the museum, on the ground floor itself you find the Ancient Indian collection from Buddhist and Hindu India with terracotta, stone, bronze and wood sculptures from the 3rd Century B.C. to the 18th Century. It has displaced the Cambodian collection that occupied this floor earlier. Implicitly stating that geopolitically, culturally and aesthetically the other civilisations represented here owe an enormous amount to India. Sculpted representations of the Buddha, episodes from Buddhist legend, as well as effigies of the principal deities illustrate the aesthetic trends that flourished in India and that influenced art right across South East Asia. On the first floor is the newly opened Riboud Gallery which represents a later India and on the same floor are other graphic works, paintings and miniatures from the 15th to the 19th Centuries.

One of the best-known specialists of Indian textiles, Krishna Riboud who expired last year, was the wife of the late Jean Riboud, head of the industrial conglomerate Schlumberger. An important patron of the Guimet Museum for over 40 years, she donated 150 selected pieces of textiles from her private collection in 1989. Barely five months before her death, she made another major donation of art belonging to 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries to the museum. All these objects of jewellery, royal costumes, kanats, durries from Rajasthan and Gujarat, muslin cotton rumals from Chamba, patolas and jamdani saris, find place in the new Jean and Krishna Riboud gallery.

But in this Asian museum, Indian art occupies far less space compared to some other smaller countries. From the point of view of space allotted and the value of the collections, the most important part of the museum is occupied by Indo-China, notably Cambodia.

"Numerically speaking," and Amina Okada, the Curator in charge of Indian collections, stresses the word numerically, "India does not occupy a large section by the range and abundance of its collections. Maybe this is for historical reasons, the colonial ties between France and South-East Asia". She hastens to add, "in terms of the volume and the numbers of pieces displayed, India does lag behind China, Japan, Central Asia and Indo-China but not in terms of the value of its collections". She stoutly defends the Indian collection and the importance of the Indian masterpieces, notably since the addition of the Riboud collection that adds a previously absent part of Indian art in particular decorative arts and court art. Earlier, the objects displayed stopped at the Vijaynagar Empire. "We had mughal miniatures, but no objects, no textiles, no carpets. This aspect of the Indian civilisation was absent previously and could not be illustrated. And the public adores this new section judging by the crowds in this gallery. The public is highly sensitive to court art".

The official name of this museum is the National Museum of Asian Arts. But in actual fact, it is always referred to as the Guimet museum, after its founder, Emile Guimet, a self-taught rich Lyons industrialist who worked tirelessly for the creation of a museum of religions. Born in 1836, he inherited the group of factories that goes by the name of Pechiney today. Fascinated by Egypt in his youth, he soon became a collector and started travelling and acquiring works of art. He first founded this museum in Lyons devoted to religions of ancient Egypt, Classical Antiquity and Asia. He was to later construct a special building in Paris where the museum is housed even today.

The museum has umpteen masterpieces but the one that strikes you visibly the most and remains with you long after you have reached home is the sculpture of the "Great Naga" from Cambodia. This is the largest piece in the Museum and has been assembled for the very first time since 1889, piece by piece. 13 tons of solid stone.

As in any other good museum, a fair amount of time is required to discover the varied collections. But for the western visitor - not many people could remember seeing Indian visitors in the last five weeks - it is a worthwhile and certainly enjoyable trip to the East.

RAJESH SHARMA

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