“I think you should allow all the visitors of the Quai Branly to admire the works you have gathered” – these words have been written on April 25th 2011 by the late French president Jacques Chirac to Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, CEO of the financial holding FIMALAC (which owns shares in entertainment, real estate and luxury hotel companies). This letter has been reproduced in the catalogue of the exhibition “Eclectic” organized in 2016 for the tenth year anniversary of the Musée du Quai Branly, in which featured some works belonging to the French businessman. The donation of thirty-six artworks from Africa and Oceania has been officialized two years later and, after a short delay due to the covid pandemic, the Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière gallery eventually opened in March 2021, in the western mezzanine of the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac.
Jean Nouvel, architect of the Musée du Quai Branly in 2006, designed the gallery: shrouded in a low blue light, some sculptures are exhibited in big glass bubbles made by milanese craftsmen, whereas the other works look like floating in their display cases, on an alternance of dark wenge and clear maple wood floor and furniture.
Advised by gallerists like Alain de Monbrison or Hélène Leloup, and other collectors like Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière has collected masterpieces from Western Africa (Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali) – see the eyema byeri reliquary guardian figure and the Dan mask which both belonged to the art dealer Paul Guillaume – and Central Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon), like this awesome Luba ceremonial arrow rest (passed by the American art dealer Merton Simpson in the eighties) or the Nkishi protective statue that welcomes the visitors when they enter the mezzanine.
The private atmosphere of the gallery and the original display of the works make a unique and spectacular place for this kind of collection which can rather be seen only during auction sales at pretigious auction houses (like this or that), as the French entrepreneur “[…] does not want his ashes to be scattered at the Père-Lachaise in the morning and his collection at Christie’s in the evening.”
The other side of the mezzanine is currently in work to receive forthcoming thematic exhibitions related to Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière collection, that will give a new perspective to these amazing artworks.
Sources:
- Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière collection website
- Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière interview, published in Le Monde November 18th 2016
- “Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière premier mécène des arts premiers”, article published in Paris Match, March 25th 2021
- “Le Quai Branly encapsule la collection d’un généreux mécène !”, article published in Beaux Arts magazine, April 23rd 2021
Photos credits: @elegantinparis
Elégances Parisiennes 