“With the “Black Model” exhibition, we had the feeling of experiencing an important moment” – Libération

2023-10-04 16:12:04

Libé des historiansdossierThe president of the Louvre looks back on a 2019 exhibition that she organized at the Musée d’Orsay dedicated to black people in art.

On the occasion of the “Rendez-vous de l’histoire”, which is being held in Blois from October 4 to 8, 2023, Libération journalists invite around thirty historians to take another look at current events. Find this special issue on newsstands Thursday October 5 and all the articles from this edition in this file.

Now president of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars directed the Musée d’Orsay from 2017 to 2021. She looks back on the organization of the exhibition “The Black Model”, which attracted 500,000 visitors in just four months, in 2019, with the central theme of the question of the representation of black people in art.

What made you decide to program an exhibition like “The Black Model”?

“The Black Model” is the fruit of the thesis work of a New York researcher, Denise Murrell. When the idea of ​​making an exhibition was proposed to me, I immediately had the intuition that it would be as much a shock as it was obvious. It was a real subject of art history, which developed a fascinating rereading of a certain number of works present at the Musée d’Orsay around a burning question. There was a fascinating challenge there: that of maintaining the balance between two cultural spheres, France and the United States, which do not have quite the same history, and of opening the museum to multiple sensibilities.

To what extent was this boldness in the programming of French museums?

The subject raised by Denise was largely inspired by the field of American black studies. The issues it raised were not necessarily what museums in France were most accustomed to. The ambition was therefore to adapt a very American exhibition principle in its definition to attempt a French response, in all its uniqueness.

From what angle did the exhibition surprise you? In its development, in its reception?

First, by the many visitors she was able to reach, many of whom were not those who usually frequent the museum. We were able to see that by inviting new points of view, by approaching images from a new angle, we could attract very diverse audiences. We felt like we were experiencing an important moment.

Has this exposure transformed your professional trajectory? And if so, in what way?

It has certainly increased my sensitivity to major social issues that museums can no longer ignore. She also reassured me in the idea that you have to know how to dare, to follow your intuitions, even if it means shaking things up. It is at this price that museums remain living institutions, listening to the world.