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U.S. Programs And Initiatives
U.S. PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES
Building on its strong relations with the United States, the Musée du Louvre is working with a group of American cultural institutions to bring selected treasures from its collections to audiences across the country. Approximately 18% of the Louvre’s annual visitors are American—by far the largest group of visitors from any country outside France. Americans also have one of the highest levels of visitor satisfaction out of all the museum’s visitors.
This year, multiple initiatives enlarge the parameters of the Louvre’s collaboration in the U.S, including major traveling exhibitions at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the DenverArt Museum, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, as well as The Frick Collection, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Louvre is also actively working to bring American art to its Paris home, and has begun plans for an American art collection. Ties between the museum and its American audience are further strengthened through the efforts of the American Friends of the Louvre and its
associated programs. All of these initiatives help the Louvre cement its role as a universal museum, dedicated to bringing art to all.
Launched in 2006, “Louvre Atlanta” is an unprecedented three-year partnership between the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Louvre, a project unlike any venture of its kind between two museums.
The partnership includes the exchange of cultural expertise and operational strategies as well as educational programs and the development of joint publications, conferences, films, and seminars exploring exhibitions and related themes.
The “Louvre Atlanta” project gives rise to a series of long-term thematic exhibitions exploring the range, depth and historic development of the Louvre’s collections—from the Louvre’s creation in 1793 to the present day. Each of these exhibitions will include between 50 and 80 works, loaned for periods ranging from 3 to 11 months. The duration of the loan for each work is determined by the Louvre in order not to deprive its own visitors of certain works for too long a period.
To date, “Louvre Atlanta” exhibitions have attracted nearly 450,000 visitors to the High, 60,000 of which were students. In addition, the High’s membership reached a peak of more than 50,000 households during “Louvre Atlanta,” ranking in the top 10 among American art museums.
“Louvre Atlanta” has resulted in important collaborative scholarship on works from the Louvre’s collections, and has allowed for productive exchanges on curatorial methods. The partnership has also allowed for the restoration of historic works, such as with “The Tiber,” one of the largest and most important Roman antiquities in the Louvre’s collection. Exhibition catalogues and other publications illustrating this common work exist in both French and English.
Featuring masterpieces from the founding cultures of Western civilization, “The Louvre in the Ancient World” includes more than 50 works from the Louvre’s unparalleled Egyptian, Near Eastern and GrecoU.
Roman antiquities collections. Showcasing works dating from the third millennium B.C. through the third century A.D., the exhibition will examine Napoleon’s fascination with and appropriation of antiquities, the discovery and interpretation of ancient writing systems such as hieroglyphics and cuneiform, and the Louvre’s leading role in excavating the cradle of civilization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The
oldest works in the exhibition are drawn from the ancient cultures of Egypt, the Persian site of Susa (in modern Iran), the Neo-Sumerian city of Tello (in modern Iraq), and the Canaanite city of Ugarit (in modern Syria). A special installation will showcase a ten-foot long, colossal statue, The Tiber—among the largest in the Louvre’s collections—personifying the TiberRiver, Rome’s main artery for trade.
Curators: Sophie Cluzan, Eastern Antiquities; Sophie Descamps, Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities; and Marc Etienne, Egyptian Antiquities.
“The Eye of Josephine” reassembles more than 60 masterworks from the collection of Greco-Roman and Egyptian antiquities that were installed by the Empress Josephine at Malmaison, her residence located on the outskirts of Paris. In 1802 Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, gave a collection of antiquities unearthed at Herculaneum and Pompeii as a peace offering to Napoleon Bonaparte, then prime Consul, and his wife Josephine. Josephine’s display of these and other works in her private residence established her role as one of the earliest and most passionate art collectors of her time. “The Eye of Josephine” reunites Josephine’s antiquities for the first time since their dispersal throughout various collections in the Louvre in 1814, featuring fragments of frescoes, bronzes, marbles, an extensive group of Greek vases, and a small number of Egyptian sculptures.
Curators: Martine Denoyelle and Sophie Descamps, Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities.
The exhibition will feature the work of Jean-Antoine Houdon, a major artist of the French Enlightenment whose portraiture depicts prominent intellectual and political figures of the era. The exhibition will include approximately 20 works, such as the famous busts of Denis Diderot and François-Marie Arouet Voltaire, and portraits of American forefathers George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Well-known portraits of Houdon’s wife and children will also be included.
Managing curators for the “Louvre Atlanta” exhibitions are Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre, Curator of Sculpture at the Musée du Louvre, and David Brenneman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at the HighMuseum of Art.
The total budget for “Louvre Atlanta” is estimated at $18 million. This includes a €5.5 million fee from the High that will go toward the restoration of the Louvre’s 18th-century French decorative arts galleries. The balance of the budget offsets the development of “Louvre Atlanta.” These funds will allow the High to develop special programming in Atlanta and will cover costs associated with mounting three years of programming encompassing the nine exhibitions, such as insurance, travel, marketing and publications and advertising, and security for this unprecedented project.
To date, the High Museum of Art has raised nearly $17 million in support of “Louvre Atlanta.” Lead patronage for the project has been provided by longtime High Museum Board Member Anne Cox Chambers. Accenture is the Presenting Partner. UPS, Turner Broadcasting Corporation, the Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, and AXA Art Insurance are Lead Corporate Partners for “Louvre Atlanta.”
The Foundation Partner is The Sara Giles Moore Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Forward Arts Foundation, Frances B. Bunzl, and Tull Charitable Foundation.
This fall, objects from the Louvre’s collections will travel to the Western United States for the first time.
Featuring works from the first year of “Louvre Atlanta” as well as new works lent specifically for “Artisans & Kings,” the exhibition tells the intriguing stories of Paris’ artisans and kings through decorative arts, sculptures, paintings, antiquities and drawings from the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI. These three monarchs played a pivotal role in what is considered the greatest period of development for French decorative arts, and their royal collections became the core of the Louvre’s holdings. The
exhibition will feature Gobelin’s 1775 tapestry The Loves of the Gods, Vertume and Pomone and a selection of Sèvres porcelain, completed by works from Rubens, Titian, Velazquez and Dürer among others. The exhibition draws on the breadth of the Louvre’s holdings and showcases this material in a way not possible in the Louvre’s massive permanent collections.
? Collections of kings provides a rare look into the formation of the royal collection’s masterworks of painting, drawing and sculpture. Among the highlights is Titian’s Woman with Mirror, c.1515, a quintessentially Venetian masterpiece that exemplifies the artist’s deft handling of color and light.
Additional highlights include Velazquez’s The Infanta Margarita of 1653, Poussin’s Et in Arcadia Ego (The Arcadian Shepherds), c. 1638, a 17th century bronze of Pope Urban VIII by Bernini, and more than 40 drawings from the royal collection.
? Politics of style reveals the kings’ influential role in cultivating the production of luxury goods by promoting and investing in the porcelain, tapestry, and glass industries, which fostered the greatest period of development for French decorative arts. Highlights include a silver platter cover of exceptional detail by François-Thomas Germain, and a porcelain and bronze gilt Sèvres vase.
? Trappings of power explores the role art played in promoting the public image of the king through public sculpture, painting and decorative furnishing at Versailles. Works include an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Thomas Gobert and a large-scale tapestry produced at the Gobelin’s factory which includes the coat of arms of France.
? Crafting a lifestyle features objects produced for the kings’ opulent public and private lives at Versailles, such as a collection of rare gold Sèvres porcelain including porcelain pots-pourris owned by Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV.
This exhibition is accompanied by a 163-page, full-color catalogue. Published by the DenverArt Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the catalogue features a collection of scholarly essays by museum curators and additional contributors. The decorative pieces in the exhibition are largely drawn from the Louvre’s department of Decorative arts whose rooms are currently closed to the public due to construction. The exhibition is supported by Accenture.
Curators: Marie-Laure de Rochebrune, Decorative Arts Department; Catherine Loisel-Théret, Graphic Arts Department; Sophie Descamps, Department of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Antiquities; Isabelle Lemaistre, Sculpture Department; and Olivier Meslay, Painting Department.
In Denver, the exhibition has been organized by Timothy Standring, the Gates Foundation Curator of Painting and Sculpture, and Melora McDermott-Lewis, Director of Education and Master Teacher for European and American Art.
The Louvre and the American Federation of Arts have organized the largest traveling exhibition of works ever drawn from the Louvre’s collections, which premieres at the Indianapolis Museum of Art this fall.
Featuring 184 works drawn from the Louvre’s unparalleled collection of Roman art, “Roman Art from the Louvre” includes mosaics, frescoes, terracotta statuettes, monumental sculptures, sarcophagi, marble reliefs, glass and metal vessels, and gold jewelry, none of which has ever traveled to the United States.
Organized thematically, the exhibition examines everyday Roman public and private life through different lenses, including religion, urbanism, war, imperial expansion, funerary practices, intellectual life, and family.
“Roman Art from the Louvre” traces the genealogy of the four main Roman dynasties—the Julio-Claudians, the Antonines, the Severans, and the family of Constantine—through an examination of works made between the first century BC and the early fourth century AD. The exhibition will include a section devoted to non-citizens of Rome: foreigners, freedmen, and slaves, and will also examine the role of women during this period. The exhibition will close with ancient statues that have been repeatedly repaired and altered since the Renaissance, reflecting both the ongoing interest in Roman art and the way in which it has been collected, interpreted and restored over the centuries. Exhibition highlights include:
? relief sculptures from Emperor Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli;
? busts of prominent Roman leaders including Marcus Aurelius, and Agrippa;
? statues of the emperors Augustus, Caligula, and Trajan
? imperial rings, necklaces, and earrings;
? statues of Isis, Venus, Minerva, and Bacchus;
? early depictions of theatrical scenes, portraits of actors, and theatrical masks;
? military diplomas and army medallions;
? sarcophagi, urns, and related ritual objects; and
? household objects found at Pompeii and Herculaneum
The exhibition is supported locally by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Following its presentation in Indianapolis, the exhibition will travel to the SeattleArt Museum (February 19–May 11, 2008) and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (June 19–October 12, 2008).
“Roman Art from the Louvre” will be accompanied by an illustrated exhibition catalogue published by AFA and the University of Washington Press featuring three major essays and individual catalogue entries written by the guest curators as well as other scholars of Roman art, including experts from the Louvre.
Commissioners: Daniel Roger and Cécile Giroire, Department of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Antiquities.
In addition to the above partnerships, the Louvre has co-organized two exhibitions with other American institutions: Gabriel de Saint-Aubin at the Frick Collection, which premieres in New York on October 16 before traveling back to the Louvre in the spring of 2008, and Desiderio de Settignano, Sculpture of the Renaissance at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Desiderio de Settignano premieres at the Louvre and travels to Washington in July 2008.
The Louvre is actively working to explore relationships with America at its home in Paris. In the spring of 2006, the Louvre celebrated “An American Season,” which included the exhibition American Artists and the Louvre. Also in 2006, The Louvre Invites Toni Morrison, a collaboration between the museum and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, examined the interchange between art and identity, race and politics.
In July 2007 the Louvre acquired Phaeton asking Apollo permission to drive the Chariot of the Sun, a major painting by American artist Benjamin West (1738 – 1820), for its permanent collection. The acquisition underscores the Louvre’s ambition to build a collection of American art. Prior to this addition, the collection included only three works by American artists.
In 2003, the Louvre and the American Friends of the Louvre initiated the Louvre Leonardo School Exchange, which offers French and American high school students, their teachers, and their families the possibility to share in an educational and artistic program designed to create better understanding between the two cultures. The most recent exchange, in the summer of 2006, coincided with the Louvre’s “American Season” and the associated exhibition, American Artists and the Louvre.
The Louvre founded American Friends of the Louvre (AFL) in 2002 to strengthen ties between the museum and the American public and formalize the longstanding generosity of American patrons.
AFL’s goals are:
? To support the Louvre in its efforts to improve educational tools and visiting conditions, particularly for American and other English-speaking visitors, which include the translation of labels and online collections database, and the development of English-language publications.
? To promote exchanges between the Louvre and American institutions through the development of cultural activities in the U.S., such as exhibitions, educational programs and professional and scholarly exchanges.
? To participate in the financing of Louvre projects, such as renovations of galleries, new displays of collections, and educational programs both in France and the U.S.
Individuals making gifts of $10,000 or more on an annual basis are recognized in the Chairman’s Circle.
A number of events are planned throughout the year for Circle members, including an annual recognition dinner in New York and a trip to Paris planned around the theme of a major exhibition at the Louvre. In the fall of 2008, AFL and the Louvre will recognize individuals who contribute an annual gift of $25,000 with the launch of International Friends. Members will have the opportunity to participate in annual trips that each focus on one of the Louvre’s international partnerships.
Corporations are also invited to participate in a two-tiered membership program, which provides benefits and visibility in both the U.S. and France.
AFL regularly organizes fundraising events and galas in support of its charitable activities on behalf of the Louvre. Most recently, AFL hosted fundraising dinners in Houston (February 2007) and Los Angeles (May 2007), with proceeds designated towards the renovation costs of the Louvre’s 18th century decorative arts galleries, to which American Friends of the Louvre has pledged $4 million.
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Christopher Forbes, Vice Chairman of Forbes, Inc., is Chairman of the Board of Directors of American Friends of the Louvre. Other officers are President Henri Loyrette (Paris), Vice Chairman Becca Cason Thrash (Houston), Secretary Victoria Bjorklund (New York), and Treasurer Patrick Gerschel (New York). Other board members include Max Blumberg (Miami), Henri de Castries (Paris), Charles de Croisset (Paris), Janine Hill (New York), Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière (Paris), Howard and Gretchen Leach (San Francisco), Henri Loyrette (Paris), H.I.H. Princesse Napoléon (Paris), and Katharine Rayner (Atlanta & New York).
The offices of American Friends of the Louvre are based in New York. Inquiries should be directed to Sue Devine, executive director, at (212) 367-2649.
American Friends of the Louvre raises funds from individuals, corporations, and foundations to support its mission and general activities and for specific board-approved initiatives. Projects funded to date include the creation of informational panels in three languages (English-Spanish-French) throughout the Louvre’s major galleries, the English translation of the online collections database (Atlas), and the upgrading of audio systems for guided tours.
In addition, AFL has assisted in the establishment of grants for educational support, such as a curatorial fellowship in the Louvre’s Department of Islamic Art, and a one-year research fellowship to inventory and create an online database of American art in French public collections.
AFL has also supported exhibitions of American art at the Louvre. In the summer of 2006, AFL and the Broad Art Foundation underwrote an installation by contemporary American artist Mike Kelley titled Green Depths. In November, AFL sponsored The Louvre Invites Toni Morrison, a collaboration between the Louvre and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. The month-long program of readings, panel discussions, film screenings and recitals at the Louvre addressed the theme of “The Foreigner’s Home,” examining the interchange between art and identity, race and politics.
