VII PHILIPPINE ARTIFACTS AND ARTWORKS SHOWCASED IN HISTORIC EXHIBITION AT THE MUSÉE DU QUAI BRANLY

VII

PHILIPPINE ARTIFACTS AND ARTwORkS SHOwCASED IN HISTORIC EXHIBITION AT THE MUSéE DU qUAI BRANLY

As a testament to their ever-deepening bilateral relations, the governments of France and the Philippines—along with several key players in both countries in the fields of commerce, culture and the arts—had committed themselves to staging in 2013 what would be described as the “biggest exhibition on the Philippines held in France and even in Europe for more than 20 years.”43

From an idea of two museum directors who met through the Asia-Europe Museum Network (ASEMUS)44—Stéphane Martin and Corazon Alvina45—and an elaborate plan which took more than five years to complete, the grand Paris exhibition entitled, “Philippines, archipel des échanges (Philippines: Archipelago of Exchanges)” had been born.

The concept was then transformed into reality when a memorandum of agreement on it was signed in Manila by the Philippine Government and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was in the Philippines for an official visit from 19 to 21 October 2012, the first one ever by a French head of government.46

Opening to the public in 2013, on the Philippine Day of Valor on April 9, and running until France’s national day, the Bastille Day on July 14, the exhibition was artistically arranged in more than 2,000 square meters of space in Paris’ Musée du Quai Branly.47 The choice of venue was in itself a coup as Musée du Quai Branly is considered as the premier national museum in France that features the arts and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples around the world.48

Representing Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III, Vice President Jejomar Binay joined French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in inaugurating the exhibition on 8 April 2013.

Curated by Constance de Monbrison and Corazon Alvina, the exhibition featured more than 300 pieces on the arts and culture of the Cordilleras and of the coastal communities, mostly in

Figure 226. Facade of the Musée du Quai Branly featuring the exhibition. (Photo / Juan Wyns)

Figure 227. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay inaugurate "Philippines, archipel des échanges (Philippines: Archipelago of Exchanges)" [Archives nationales_000143_20160365_376 @ Premier Ministre, reportages photographiques Jean-Marc Ayrault]

Southern Philippines.49 Other key organizers of the exhibition were Hélène Fulgence and Yves Le Fur, Musée du Quai Branly’s Director of Exhibitions and Cultural Productions and Director of Heritage and Collections Department, respectively.50

The Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts considered it as “the first major exhibition dedicated to the Philippines showing the Philippines’ Austronesian roots and maritime culture before the arrival of Europeans through selected pieces from various collections in the Philippines, United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria.”51

One could say that the exhibition, and the surrounding cultural activities52 that were held around it, was an impeccable performance of a large symphony orchestra, with the different musicians being the various Philippine, European, and American institutions and individuals that played in harmony to create this obra maestra.

KEY SUPPORTERS

With the support of the highest level of governments of the Philippines and France, the exhibition had been able to bring together a number of important public and private entities, as well as remarkable individuals including some heads of government, parliamentarians, ministers, world-renowned chefs, artists, academicians, and journalists.

Philippine government participation in the exhibition was impressive, having the top support of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Department of Agriculture, the National Museum of the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine Central Bank), the Department of Tourism and the Finance Department’s Bureau of Customs.53

Philippine Senator Loren Legarda had lent her support to the project as well, most especially in the production and dissemination of the exhibition catalogues which were published in English and in French.54

Then Philippine Ambassador to France, Cristina Ortega, French Ambassador to the Philippines Gilles Garachon, and the Embassies of the Philippines in Paris and of France in Manila also played instrumental roles that contributed to the success of the exhibition.55

The exhibition featured the collections of three Philippine museums: the National Museum of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the Ayala Museum. The National Museum of the Philippines in particular, lent fourteen objects, many of which had never left Philippine shores including the priceless National Cultural Treasures, specifically, the Oton Death Mask and the Palawan Zoomorphic Ear Pendant. The loaned artifacts ranged widely in both space and time, originating from the Batanes islands in the far north to Sarangani in the island of Mindanao in the south, and from 2,000-3,000 BC until the mid-20th century.56

Apart from the Musée du Quai Branly’s collection which included many fine ornaments and some very important bulul57 wooden sculptures, some American and European museums—those of which collected artifacts from the end of the nineteenth century or the very beginning of the twentieth century—also lent some of their collections. The American Museum of Natural History had the collection of Laura Watson Benedict, the pioneer of Mindanaoan anthropology. The Field Museum had those of Faye-Cooper Cole among others, and the Yale Art Gallery had then recently received the important Thomas Jaffe Collection, which included a number of splendid sculptures from the Luzon Cordillera. In Europe, the Vienna Museum für Völkerkunde, the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, and the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Madrid had historical collections brought to Europe by administrators and researchers at the end of the nineteenth century.58

There were also private lenders including several individuals and families from Europe, as well as from the US, and the Philippines. Three lenders were from Brussels, one from Madrid, four from San Francisco, eleven from the Philippines59 and eleven from France—Patrick Caput, Michel Durand-Dessert, Christian Erien, Alexandre Espenel, Fred Feinsilber, Yann Ferrandin, Max Itzikovitz, David Lebard, Alain Schoffel, Judith Schoffel and Pierre de Vallombreuse.60