MUSEUM NEWS Six Hundred Years of Receptacles: Tableware Through the Ages GENEVA—Founded in 1977, the Barbier-Mueller Museum mark it, the institution is presenting a special exhibition featuring a hundred works of varied provenances, periods, Years of Receptacles: Tableware Through the Ages was the brainchild of Michel Butor. It provides a “temporal and geographic panorama of human creation.” The late 50 A Multi-Venue Exhibition On the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, the Barbier- Mueller Museum is reaching out to a number of cultural institutions. Eighteen Swiss museums and four French ones have selected objects from its collection for display in connection with their activities and exhibitions. In one case, a volcanic rock ancestor fi gure from the Pacifi c and a Zaramo funerary fi gure are now in the galleries of the Martin Bodmer Foundation alongside early editions of expedition accounts by explorers such as James Cook and Henry Morton Stanley. In another, a Kongo “power fi gure” representing a warrior with a spear and covered with nails is on display at the Musée international de la Réforme in its section devoted to religious wars. Through this initiative, the Barbier-Mueller is hoping to forge bonds of cooperation that will promote exchanges between institutions. Lectures, roundtables, guided visits, and other kinds of cultural events will be organized in connection with the loaned works. LOWER LEFT: Bowl in the form of a fish. Tami, Huon Gulf, Papua New Guinea. Wood. L: 63.5 cm. Ex. J. Hooper, London. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 4110-A. © ABM, Studio Ferrazini Bouchet. ABOVE: Mask. Atoni, Sonde Islands, West Timor. Wood. H: 22.2 cm. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 3728. © ABM, Studio Ferrazini Bouchet. LEFT: Shoulder mask, d’mba. Baga, Guinea. 19th century. Wood, upholstery nails, French coins. H: 135 cm. Ex. Josef Mueller, acquired from Emil Storrer around 1950. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 1001-1. © ABM, Studio Ferrazini Bouchet. ABOVE: Sculpture, tiki. Marquesas Islands. Stone. H: 45 cm. Ex Josef Mueller, acquired before 1942. Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 5818. © ABM, Studio Ferrazini Bouchet. LEFT: Group of vessels. Egypt. C. 3500–3200 BC. Terracotta. H: 5.6 cm, 12.8 cm, 5.7 cm. Musée Barbier-Mueller, invs. 203-59, 203-52, 203-63. © ABM, studio Ferrazini Bouchet. is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. To and cultures drawn from its collection. Six Thousand French author selected each object according to the role that its shape suggested to him. He then wrote a short poem for each object. These objects, sometimes masterpieces, now serving as ambassadors for cultures around the planet, are set in dialog with vases by contemporary Western artists. Each is a refl ection of the aesthetic criteria prevailing in the culture from which it comes. The ritual or ceremonial contexts in which the pieces were used are also explored. The exhibition will be on view in Geneva until January 31, 2018. Its breadth is a fi tting tribute to the museum’s founder, Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, who recently left us.
T84 EN Online
To see the actual publication please follow the link above