13 Oct 2018 13 Jan 2019

The floating universe of Paul Jacoulet

At the Carré Plantagenêt - Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de la Ville du Mans

A travelling artist, trained in Japanese arts, Paul Jacoulet produced an extraordinary body of work in terms of its originality. His travels across East Asia and the Southern Oceans provided an unending source of inspiration, imbued with a humanistic view on the diversity of societies.

About the exhibition

French artist Paul Jacoulet arrived in Japan in 1899 and remained there for most of his life. He travelled to Korea, China and Micronesia on numerous occasions to produce portraits of the inhabitants. Through his prints, watercolours and drawings, the artist depicted the men and women he encountered through an intimate, aesthetic and ethnographic perspective.

This exhibition brings together 80 drawings, sketches and exceptional prints gifted to the museum by Ms. Thérèse Inagaki, the artist's adopted daughter, in addition to a set of wooden dies used for the preparation of prints, old photographs from the museum's collections and major French public collections and multimedia programmes specially produced for the exhibition.

Several overarching themes will help visitors navigate his abundant and singular work: the artist-ethnographer's vision of an everyday and intimate elsewhere, the representation of tattoos and adornments as well as the erotic nature of certain portraits.

This exhibition was on display at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac from 26 February to 19 May 2013 and at Musée de Tahiti et des Iles – Te Fare Manaha, Tahiti, from September 7th to December 10th 2017.

  • Curator:

    • Christian Polak, Doctor of Law, specialist in the history of Franco-Japanese relations, specialist in the work of Paul Jacoulet
    •  Sarah Ligner, Head of the Historic and Contemporary Globalisation Heritage Unit, Heritage and Collections Department, musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac

    Scientific advisors:

    • Kiyoko Sawatari, Researcher at the Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan, specialist in the work of Paul Jacoulet
    • Sébastien Galliot, specialist in tattooing in Micronesia
  • Place:  Musée Jean-Claude Boulard, Carré Plantagenêt - Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de la Ville du Mans, Le Mans, France
  • TimeSlots:
    From Saturday 13 October 2018 to Sunday 13 January 2019 from 02:00 to 00:00
  • Public:   All publics
  • Categorie : Touring exhibitions

The exhibition in pictures

  • Le nautilus
  • Une belle de palaos
  • La geisha Kiyoka
  • (Tatou) Santiago, jeune indigène de Yap
  • Les Jades
  • Vieil Aïno
  • Jeune homme de Fais (Ouest Carolines) tatoué

Le nautilus, musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

© Paul Jacoulet (c) ADAGP 2018 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Claude Germain
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