General Introduction

The collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon provide an insight into how the notion of universality has been applied to art. Conceived from its very beginnings during the French Revolution as the first regional museum outside Paris, it has always presented a wide range of art from Antiquity to the present day. Throughout the various phases of its history, this very French model has adapted: universal and democratic under the direction of Henri Focillon; cosmopolitan and popular under his successor Léon Rosenthal. Over the last thirty years or so, new connotations have been given to the complex term of universality: a certain idea of globalisation has gradually taken its place without the museum ever losing its original dream of universal accessibility. Moreover, since its creation in 1984, the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon has constantly demonstrated--through its acquisitions policy and its exhibition programming--this openness to the global art scene, as examplified by the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art.

The Connecting Worlds exhibition presents a variety of art forms from the past and the present that know no borders or geographical limits. While artists, techniques and objects have never ceased to travel, the history of these exchanges is intertwined with a painful history of conquest and domination. At the same time, the fascination, appropriation and assimilation of other cultures has shaped the outlooks and sensibilities of artists and audiences alike. Against the backdrop of a pluralistic globalised society, the Connecting Worlds exhibition is an opportunity to shed new light on this artistic dialogue with a selection of works from the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon.

Within the exhibition, a section has been designed around two 17th-century Sino-Portuguese embroideries, masterpieces from the Fine Arts Department of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, completed by the exceptional loan by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) of another embroidery from the same series evoking the Trojan War. These works are the fruit of an encounter between Western and Far Eastern traditions.

Part 1. Networks of Objects

Artistic creation is generally conceived in a local way. Numerous museums and written works consider art history by schools - the "French school", "Italian school", "Dutch school" and so on. Despite its usefulness for educational purposes, this compartmentalisation minimises artistic exchanges and underestimates their magnitude.

Indeed, as the sociologist Arjun Appadurai points out, "groups devoid of any contact with the outside world have probably never existed". It is therefore necessary to move away from an insular way of thinking and envisage connected archipelagos rather than artistic islands cut off from each other.

This section aims to present the artistic networks that can exist between different territories, inviting us to shift the way we look at objects. Such an exercise leads to a dizzying result: openness to the world applies to periods of history that are astonishingly ancient. Commercial and artistic exchanges took place long before 'globalisation' as we know it today, and over very long distances.

1.1. Linking Worlds

Writing, delivery notes, the principle of an international language, standards of measurement, and even product traceability have their origins in ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Irak) where they were invented over 5,000 years ago to facilitate trade.

This room also features a selection of measuring instruments - for time and space - that were used to link worlds. The opening up of trade routes was obviously influenced by improvements in means of transport. While the Portuguese invented a revolutionary boat in the 15th century--the caravel--the Dutch extended their trade networks thanks to their retourschepen, warship-like vessels which were solid and capable of carrying large tonnage.

Finally, the rise of cartography helped to consolidate commercial and military power. At the same time, the possession of maps and globes, both terrestrial and celestial, changed the way space was represented. Appropriating maps meant not just assimilating potential riches but also misappropriating them, as the artist Érik Dietman likes to humorously remind us.

1.2. The Nomadic Life of Forms

The interconnection of worlds has not been without consequences for the arts: motifs circulate as well as artisans and objects. A prime example is coins whose engraved designs are passed from hand to hand and travel the world over.

But artists do not limit themselves to copying a model they like. As with any translation, the process of copying gives rise to modifications from one territory to another and even changes in meaning (or "re-semantisations"). The installation by contemporary artist Christine Rebet reflects this constant flow of metamorphoses.

Conceived as freeze-frames, the various showcases in this section present concrete examples of artistic exchanges with a particular focus on ceramics which have been the source of numerous such exchanges since Antiquity.

1.3. Made in the World

Globalisation is nothing new. One of the first multinationals was born in 1602: the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), or Dutch East India Company. The United Provinces (now the Netherlands) gave it a monopoly on trade with Asia and the Indian Ocean, while, in 1621, its counterpart was created for trade with America (the Dutch West India Company or WIC). Thanks to this international trade, the Dutch bourgeoisie grew considerably richer and became very keen on paintings depicting the products that had come from other parts of the world and were the source of their prosperity, such as ceramics, carpets or precious fabrics. The dreamy young man painted by Jacob Van Oost wears a hat made of beaver hair, a material exported from Canada to the European market. But beneath its precious trappings, globalisation hid a dark side that even led to slavery. So what is the point of accumulating so many goods from the ends of the earth? Contemporary artist Mario Merz's answer is a modern vanitas in which neon numbers proliferate endlessly above piles of discarded newspapers.

Part 2. Portuguese Expansion in Asia

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the great discoveries of the Iberian kingdoms paved the way for globalisation. Seville became the centre of trade with Spanish America and Lisbon the capital of the Portuguese maritime empire stretching from Brazil--discovered by the navigator Pedro Cabral in 1500--to the Far East. By sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, the explorer Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498, opening up the sea route between Europe and Asia. Trading posts, warehouses and fortresses were set up along the coasts of Africa, the Indian Ocean, China (Macao) and Japan (Nagasaki).

The Estado da Índia ("State of India") administrative authority was created in order to guarantee the transfer of goods to the port of Lisbon. These goods were mainly spices but also included cotton fabrics from India, silks from China, silver extracted from Japanese mines or decorative objects destined for a wealthy clientele. Made from exotic materials but based on European models, these prized works respected local artistic traditions. The Portuguese presence in Asia thus gave birth to a hybrid art form described as "Luso-Asian".

Colonial expansion was also accompanied by the evangelisation of local populations. The  establishment of missions under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese Patronage of the Orient in turn led to the development of a religious art that bore witness to these cultural exchanges. In the 17th century, after bitter fighting, the strictly commercial Dutch East India Company succeeded in supplanting the Portuguese in Asia and laying its hands on this highly lucrative trade.

To find out more about Maco embroideries, we invite you to watch the video in the next room.

Part 3. Face to Face

The networking of the world is not limited to the circulation of objects, techniques and artistic motifs. As the contemporary artist Géraldine Kosiak--three of whose works are on display in this section--rightly points out, the "ten thousand things" she brings back from her
travels and walks enable her, of course, to "invent compositions" but, above all, to "summon their gaze".

The portrait is at the heart of this section. It is through the face that a potential relationship with another person begins. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon has many works, portraits and genre scenes that are the result of such an exchange of glances. Because of the very
history of museum collections, this exchange is mainly due to the initiative of a Western "Us".  As for the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, this "Us" allows us to make this singular face-to-face encounter plural by opening up the museum to artists from outside Europe.

Artistic creation is not neutral; it suggests a relational framework between the artist and the person represented. While most of the works on display here bear witness to a regrettable asymmetrical view from on high separating "Us" from "Others", other works are, on the contrary, the result of a much more horizontal exchange which is at the foundation of an identity open to dialogue and reciprocity.

3.1. Strange Strangers

Many of the works presented in this section take an asymmetrical approach which can offend our consciences and sensibilities. Putting this into words and considering these works and objects as documents allow us to take a step back and examine the mechanisms of domination in its more or less pernicious forms. For example, in many scenes depicting the Adoration of the Kings, the black king is the one who is represented as standing the furthest from Christ. We can recognise in this a racist typology which likened the people of sub-Saharan Africa to the descendants of Ham, cursed by by his father Noah after the Flood. This unfortunate interpretation of the Bible thus justified a status of inferiority and even slavery.

Another level of violence, and by no means the least, consists in reducing "Others" to the status of an object for the sole satisfaction of "Us". At the height of the colonial period, the poster artist Leonetto Cappiello reduced the foreigner to a sign (the turban) and assimilated his skin colour to that of shoe polish for advertising purposes.
Théodore Géricault's work responds to this asymmetry by (re)giving the foreigner a first name. In this drawing, the artist establishes a friendly, one-to-one relationship with the model, Joseph.

3.2. 'Exchanging Views'

Other blinders also limit our ability to enter into relationships: those of racist classifications and "types" which divide "Us" and "Others" on the basis of physical attributes that are as shifting as they are caricatural and can be found in many works of art. Africans have been reduced to a broad nose, full lips and frizzy hair, while Asians have generally been associated with slanting eyes and Europeans with a strong nose and moustache. Fortunately, these inward-looking categories have been broken down by horizontal exchanges of views, experienced in a way that opens us up to others. Many works recognise the ''foreigner'' as an equal: in the Monument to the gods Bel, Ba'alshamin, Yarhibol and Aglibol from Palmyra (Syria), as well as in the Egyptian funerary mask or the or the Indian or Iranian miniatures presented in this section, there is no clear physical distinction between ''Us'' and ''Others''.

Works of art help to connect worlds and individuals, establishing an open and fertile dialogue. The contemporary artist Hans Neleman, born in the Netherlands and living in New York, was the first foreigner to obtain permission from the Maori community to photograph mokos, traditional sacred tattoos. The visual proximity he creates is accompanied by the first name and testimony of the person portrayed. It is not enough to think about the world, but in accordance with the ideal of mondialité cherished by the poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant, we must think "with the world".

3.3. The Inner Workings of Exoticism

The so-called "Orientalist" movement flourished in the 19th century with the advent of colonisation. Its geographical contours are in fact blurred, as the expression "the Orient" applied to North Africa as well as to territories further east. There is a very simple explanation for this imprecision: 'the East' only exists in relation to the 'West'. It mirrors the West as much as it serves as a medium for dreams - mingled with a spirit of conquest.

In the arts, Orientalism is reflected in stereotyped iconography and the frequent use of common nouns or very vague adjectives: "an odalisque", "an Oriental", "an Arab horseman" or even a "Jewess from Algiers". The individual disappears behind the exoticism they are supposed to embody.

Can we truly speak of a ''relationship'' when a person's value is proportional to the ''exotic'' fantasy they arouse? This is tantamount to ignoring the person's core identity and seeking only largely imaginary attributes. In other words, the pursuit of exoticism consists in preferring the 'what' to the 'who'.

The painter Félix Clément, for example, was absorbed in an "oriental" reverie, seeking to carry out in Egypt "studies of types and nature in this eminently picturesque country", to quote his own words. The young girl he depicts here has no first name. She is simply described as A Fellah, the Daughter of a Village Chief, Playing the Tambourine.

Part 4. Global Dialogues

This final section brings together artists who have opened themselves up to other cultures and scenes, revealing the ways in which they have looked at others and been enriched by their diversity.  They have taken inspiration from techniques or motifs, not to reproduce them as such, but to forge elements of their own language. Not all share the same aspirations. Some, like Julius Bissier, turned to the Far East to express their rejection of the world. Others, such as Camille Virot and the group of ceramists he brought together in the "Projet Afrique", drew on the ancestral practices of African potters to rediscover an original form of expression. Still others, such as the painter Wifredo Lam, combine several sources of inspiration to create a work of cross-cultural expression. Within the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and macLYON, these artists are the bearers of new narratives better adapted to the complexity of our pluralistic societies.

4.1. Making It from Elsewhere

At the heart of this section are eight contemporary ceramists whose relationship with the Orient and non-Western cultures is central to their work. Their recently donated ceramic pieces are set against a backdrop of ancient ceramics from Korea and Japan or other works that reflect this same openness to the world. Several of them are fascinated by Far Eastern ceramics: whether they are renewing techniques from the Japanese tradition (Setsuko Nagasawa, Daphné Corregan), seeking to equal Chinese celadon porcelain (Jean-François Fouilhoux) or empirically unlocking the secrets of how certain glazes are made (Daniel de Montmollin, Jean Girel). Occasionally, several cultures are combined in the same work. Camille Virot's boxes bear witness to a dual influence from Japan and Africa. The work of painter Julius Bissier is also the result of a similar cross-fertilisation. India inks that he produced from the 1930s onwards, after abandoning figurative painting, echo the paintings of the scholars of the Song period (960-1279) as well as the funerary symbols of Western Antiquity.

4.2. Plural Métissages and Bricolages

Here the notions of métissage (mixing of cultures) and bricolage (tinkering) refer to two written works. In La Pensée métisse (1999), historian Serge Gruzinski describes the mechanisms of hybridisation and the mixing of cultures through his study of the artistic productions of the Indians of Mexico and South America in the first decades of European civilisation. The work of the painter Wifredo Lam, which is at the crossroads of different geographical and cultural spaces, epitomises this notion. In the first chapter of his book La Pensée sauvage (1962), entitled "The Science of the Concrete", the anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss contrasted the figure of the engineer with that of the tinkerer, not to establish a hierarchy but to show that each has their own way of thinking and working--rational logic on the one hand, a more practical form of intelligence on the other. By diverting salvaged materials and Bozo masks (Mali) from their original use, artist Armand Avril belongs to the family of tinkerers, as does Ken Thaiday Snr whose zoomorphic masks combine traditional materials with elements characteristic of contemporary societies.

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Exhibition curators

Sylvie Ramond, General Director of the Consortium of Lyon Art Museums, MBA | MAC LYON, Director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Chief Curator of National Heritage, Associate Professor at ENS Lyon

Léa Saint Raymond, director of the Observatoire des humanités numériques at ENS-PSL and of the art market study programme at the École du Louvre, author of Fragments d'une histoire globale de l'art, Paris, Presses de l'École normale supérieure, 2021

The section "Portuguese Expansion in Asia": Salima Hellal, Chief Curator of National Heritage Department, in charge of objets d'art, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Assisted by Élodie Roy, Applications and Digital Distribution of Collections Coordinator, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

With the scientific participation of Matthieu Lelièvre, Collections Coordinator, and Audrey El Beze, Inventory and Documentation Coordinator, macLYON

Scientific Assistant: Pauline Hiernard (ENS, Lyon)

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Scenography
2G2A - Aurélien and Jean-Claude Goepp

Graphics
Perluette & Beaufixe

Signage
ATC groupe

Art transportation
Bovis Fine Art

Exhibition catalogues
In Fine éditions d'art

English translation of room texts
Leslie Fonlladosa

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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Grégory Doucet, Mayor of Lyon, and Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert (Audrey Hénocque), Deputy Mayor of Lyon in Charge of Cultural Affairs, as well as the Director General of Services for the City of Lyon, Jérôme Maillard, and Xavier Fourneyron, Deputy Director General of Cultural Affairs, for their support.

At the Regional Department of Cultural Affairs, Marc Drouet, Director, and Sophie Onimus-Carrias and Bruno Ythier, Museum Advisors.

We would like to express our gratitude to the institutions and private collectors who, through their loans, have contributed to supporting the content of this exhibition.

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LENDERS
United States of America
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Max Hollein, Director

France
Private collection

Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Frédérique Goerig-Hergott, Director

Douai, Chartreuse Museum
Pierre Bonnaure, Director

Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts
Bruno Girveau, Director

Lyon, Lyon Municipal Library
Nicolas Galaud, Director

Lyon, The Denise and Michel Meynet Collection

Lyon, Musée d’Art Contemporain
Isabelle Bertolotti, Director

Lyon, Musée des Confluences
Hélène Lafont-Couturier, Director

Lyon, Musée des Tissus
Aziza Gril-Mariotte, Director

Paris, Musée Cernuschi - Musée des Arts de l'Asie de la Ville de Paris
Éric Lefebvre, Director

Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Christine Macel, Director

Paris, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet
Yannick Lintz, Director

Sèvres, Manufacture and National Museums
René-Jacques Mayer, General Director

As well as those lenders who wish to remain anonymous.

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Sylvie Ramond would like to thank all the staff at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the macLYON:

Pôle des musées d'arts MBA | macLYON
Managing Director: Sylvie Ramond

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Management
Director: Sylvie Ramond
General Secretary: Emmanuelle Humbert

The Collections
Curators: Geneviève Galliano, Salima Hellal, Céline Le Bacon, Stéphane Paccoud,
François Planet, Ludmila Virassamynaïken
Loan Coordination: Lucie Passilly
Artworks Management: Sophie Leconte, Armelle Bonneau-Alix, Louise Milan
Applications and Digital Distribution of Collections: Élodie Roy
Library and Documentation: Gérard Bruyère, Ewa Penot, Géraldine Heinis
Scientific Publishing: Léna Widerkehr
Image Service: Henrique Simoes

Communications
Guillemette Naessens and Alicia Cupani, Antoine Guerrier
Press: Sylvaine Manuel de Condinguy

Development
Agnès Cipriani, Isabelle Duflos, Pauline Prémat

Programming-Mediation
Cultural Programming, Outreach and Educational Activities: Bastien Colas, along with Pauline Andlauer, Claire Beyssac, Maeva Bonfanti, Ève Boustedt, Muriel Charrière, Yann Darnault, Stéphanie Dermoncourt, Marion Duffoux, Véronique Gay, Orianne Privault, Jean-Christophe Stuccilli, Sandrine Varenne, with Lydie Baluteau, Claire Bufquin, Magali Clémençon and Camille Lesaunier
Interpreting Tools and Aids: Véronique Moreno-Lourtau
Reservation Service: Frédérique Colaneri, Sylvain Mathieu, Leïla Messaï

Administration
Administrative Service: Régine Malaghrakis, Nadine Veissiaire-Gendraud, Virginie Vuillet, Nelly Castiglia, Alicia Marion
Technical Services
Technical Team: Yannick Reverdy and Émilie Brigouleix, Philippe Contamin, Didier Iriarte, Mathias Cannillo, Jimmy Lebeau, Julian Cuadrado
Lighting: Jean-Luc Miraillet, Hervé Philiponska

Security: Jacques Chemin, Olivier Gaudin and the technical management team of the building

The Front Desk and Museum Guard Team
Vincent Kuznicki, as well as Marilyn Buchet, Albéric Chastel, Laura Folli, Pierre Perrin and the team of national heritage assistants: Marie-Victoire Alibo, Didier Apaydin, Euphrasie Arnaud, Alain Beauvivre, Hélène Bellard, Lamine Bensalem, Jules Bergé, Jacqueline Bernard, Claude Bidal, Julien Bourcet, Alexandre Branchet, Jean-Marc Brandely, Audrey Cauet, Alexandre Chataigner, Léo Collier, Michèle Colliot, Damien Dechelette, Sarah Defesche, Fabien Dequier, Brigitte Di Giusto, Elhadi Elhassar, Nicolas Gallezot, Christel Gatti, Fabien Gnidzaz, Louise Gurenian, Denise Hadjadj, Marie Harpon, Remy Holdowicz, Tristan Joly, Sarah Jouve, Guillaume Kervevan, Alexandra Lombart, Frédérique Lubac, Marie-Ange Magar, Valérie Martin, Odile Matija, Virginie Millès, Badia Mliss, Sonia Mure, Serge Murer, Marion Perol, Gérald Ralahatra, Thierry Ramain, Aurélien Specogna, Karima Zazoui

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macLYON
Management
Director: Isabelle Bertolotti
General Secretary: Julien Némoz

Collections
Head of Collections: Matthieu Lelièvre
General Administrator: Pierre-Loïc Bailleul
Inventory and Documentation Coordinator: Audrey El Beze
Collections Administrator: Lauriane Vatin
Technical Assistant for the Museum Reserves : Lise Boutho

Exhibitions and Publications
Head of Exhibitions and Publishing: Marilou Laneuville
Exhibitions and Publications Coordinators: Bérangère Amblard, Auregann Le Bouffant
Exhibitions Administrator: Yuna Le Rudulier

Communications
Head of Communications: Muriel Jaby
Communications Coordinator: Élise Vion-Delphin
Webmaster, Digital Communications Coordinator: Marie Galvez
Development Assistant / Privatisation Coordinator: Françoise Haon

Programming and Mediation
Head of Programming and Mediation: Françoise Lonardoni
Cultural Programming Coordinator: Sylvianne Lathuilière
Cultural Activities Coordinator: Fanny Ventre
Cultural Mediation Coordinator: Fanny Thaller
Front Desk and Reservations Coordinator: Muriel Fueris
Cultural Programming Assistant: Elsa Daviau
The seasonal team of cultural mediators

Administration
Head of Resources: Émilie Gordon
Accounting Administrator: Franck Balandras
Human Resources Management Agent: Mathias Somville
Administrative Management Agent, Executive Assistant: Marion Ménard

Documentation
Head of Documentation: Fanny Cottet-Emard
Iconographer: Milène Jallais

Technical Services
Head of Technical Services: Olivier Emeraud
Technical Administrator: Samir Ferria
Maintenance and Safety Team Leader: Frédéric Valentin
Audiovisual Assistant: Georges Benguigui
Storage Assistant: Pascal Watrigant
General Technical Assistant: Yann Lévy
Technical and Building Security Operators: Serge Dalleau, Franck Nibel, Pascal Rohr
The seasonal team of fitters and installers
The front desk team
Visitor Services Manager: Christine Garcia-Pedroso
The seasonal team of visitor services agents

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ACTIVITIES AROUND THE EXHIBITION
GUIDED TOURS
Thursdays at 4.00 pm and Saturdays at 10.30 am (duration: 1 hour 30 minutes)
Mondays at 12.30 pm (duration: 1 hour)

AN ENCOUNTER WITH...
An encounter with a textile restorer to learn more about the work undertaken on the Macau embroideries.
Thursday 11 July at 12.30 pm

COMBINED VISIT WITH THE BOTANICAL GARDEN
A Botanical Journey
Wednesday 31 July, Saturday 24 and Wednesday 28 August
at 10.30 am, meeting point at the Botanical Garden in front of the large greenhouse (duration: 1 hour 30 minutes).
Price: €6 per person.
For the visit to the Botanical Gardens, book your ticket on the Lyon Nature website
At 3.00 pm, rendez-vous at the museum ticket office (duration: 1 hour 30 minutes).
Price: admission to the museum + €3 (visit).
Reservations and payment must be made separately at each institution.

FÊTE DE LA MUSIQUE logo musique
Concerts in the museum garden ( from 2.00 pm to 8.00 pm)
In partnership with the CMTRA (Centre des Musiques Traditionnelles Rhône-Alpes).
Friday 21 June, free admission

BAL'HAKA logo nocturne
In partnership with the CCNR (Centre chorégraphique national de Rillieux-la-Pape)
Saturday 5th July at 6.30 pm and 8.00 pm

CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR ART HISTORY
From 23 to 28 June 2024, the 36th CIHA congress, Matière matérialité, will take place in Lyon. The Connecting Worlds exhibition is part of this event which will be attended by art history professionals and researchers.
The museum is a CIHA partner.