Are you on the move? Do you dream of new landscapes and different cultures? Then take a trip to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, from November 8 to December 31, 2023. In the museum library, a photo exhibition takes us on a voyage of discovery to 19th-century Japan... Or almost...
The exhibition Japan in Color. Photographs of the 19th century, highlights 35 photographs dating from the 1860s to the late 1890s. These black-and-white shots were colorized by masters of the genre from the period.
These photographs depict an idealized, stereotyped Japan: the images do not reflect reality, but a staging designed to fit the image Europeans had of the Land of the Rising Sun at the time. Thus, the photographs show women in traditional kimonos, samurai, yakuzas, priests, palanquin bearers... Stereotypes are reinforced and carefully crafted to appeal to buyers. A bit like Americans creating a series about a young woman arriving in Paris, eating croissants in expensive clothes, in front of the Louvre...
This kind of photography was very fashionable in the 19th century: artists produced theatrical shots of Japan, and colorists brought them to life. These images were then sold to tourists, or sent to the West to feed and maintain this special image of the country as a mysterious, exotic, traditional place...
The exhibition looks at this false image, and how it was constructed. The exhibition explains how artists worked, how photographs were produced, distributed and marketed, and how the modernization of the world created these paradoxes born of tourism and colonialism...
A fascinating exhibition not to be missed this winter at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs!
Dates and Opening Time
From November 8th, 2023 to December 31th, 2023
Location
Museum of Decorative Arts
107 Rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris 1
Prices
Moins de 26 ans: Free
Tarif réduit: €10
Plein tarif: €14
Official website
madparis.fr
