Visit to the Dogon people

April 7th, 2011    Posted in jewelry

This is the most studied African tribe: the Dogon of Mali are under the eye of anthropologists since 1904. And if their art and their traditions are known, the mystery of their cosmogony remains unclear. The Musée du Quai Branly will discover that culture with ancient roots. Rare.Difficile exposure to the tourist, or even impossible with the official restrictions related to the events of the Sahel, to go to Dogon country in central Mali, along the spectacular cliffs of Bandiagara and get better acquainted with this tribe still smiling growing even longer Islamized facilitator as fervently its traditions rooted in the caves around its fragrant vegetables in tiny enclosed fields of the valley.

Lack of Mali, we must go to Paris, specifically at the Musée du Quai Branly. The establishment dedicated to the arts this brilliantly number of elements of worship and everyday objects of the Dogon, thus, not an exotic trip, but a visit informative. It is true that on-site, except in a small local museum – and with countless copies sold in “Touba” crossing – there are no more representative of relics, the country was plundered of its treasures for the benefit of collectors and museums West. It is also true that the art market, the Dogon pieces can reach several hundred thousand euros.

Proof: distributed in several styles to match different peoples or to specific geographical areas, the 330 works submitted from all museum collections and private, French, Belgian, Swiss, American …

Organized under the leadership of the great gender specialist, Helen Wolf, exposure, probably the only of its kind for a long time, trying to better detail some parts of the mystery of this particular culture studied since the early work on site date from the early twentieth century and continue today. The world of the Dogon tribe of Africa remains the most studied. A people whose history goes back to the first millennium, which contradicts the idea that African art is recent. Here we find statues, very current form, which were developed when the builders of cathedrals is in Europe. Moreover, there are many different tribes successively established, each bringing their own culture, mixing with others: Djennenke, N’duleri, Tombo, Niongom and Tellem, Gogona-Mande, Tintam, Bombou Toro, Kambara, Komakan, …

The visit takes place in three main parts. After a general presentation and a large map of explanation, the visitor is confronted with 133 statues presented in display cases semi-obscure. This accumulation represents half of the rarest of these representations in the world, a plethora of excellent news for the insider and what confuse the layman. These works often have quite different features in common: arms raised skyward, hermaphrodites, twins, couples, animal figures, zoomorphism … It’s strange Dogon myth of creation, not always easy to grasp.
Follows a bright room that features a score of cave paintings and thirty masks with abstract representations, or cubist.

The scavenging bird to the monkey white, crocodile antelope, most are zoomorphic, but the huge (5.20 m high) “storey house Sirige” particularly attracted the attention. For most other masks are perched too high, difficult to see eye to eye as it should. The tour continues through the window display of 140 everyday objects,Wedding Jewellery , dishes, seats, locks, studs, all imbued with a religious beauty, because even a barn door or a clamp loom, the Dogon able to decline the themes that are dear to them.

The final and most remarkable object is the one that greets visitors to the museum’s usual entry of permanent exhibitions: a large (2.10 m) is a hermaphrodite raised arm of the tenth century (the Museum Quai Branly has obtained thanks to the patronage of Axa, € 4 million on its opening).

Until the summer, you should see this exhibition is exceptional in more ways than one. First of its theme well surrounded. Then the quantity and especially the quality of the objects presented, and finally by its originality, as if it will continue until 2012 in Bonn and Milan, it is likely that such an event can not happen again in the future as it was difficult to gather all these parts out standard. A unique exhibition.

The gift of Canal and punishment TF1

March 26th, 2011    Posted in jewelry

Ten years ago, everything that touched Canal turned over to fail. Today, the opposite, the string is returned, culturally, the trier of French elegance. Great is his newspaper, whose audience continues to grow, that is the opinion, and its leaders who are the kings of the PAF, as the best years of channel-Rousselet-lescure Degreef … and this success dice today extends its draft Canal 20, a free chain announced by Bertrand Meheut, the CEO. It does not exist, it will not exist long before, but perhaps never in stock on Friday, TF1 and M6 already collapsed. Financial analysts, probably all subscribers to Canal, have already played the future winning string. Is going a bit far. First, the channel has not yet “bonus channel” which will launch the famous chain free. Remind our readers that this “bonus” scandal was granted in 2006 by the scandalous Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, then minister of culture, all private channels with historical, thanking them for allowing passage of TNT. This gift was denounced at the time: he had no place to be, because the chains had already received compensation, and they made their fortune through radio channels available to them for free! The State did not have to compensate them because they had paid nothing. This invention was a bonus channel TF1, which wanted to offset its deficit in TNT. The government did not dare say no … and gave the same time a chain of more … M6 and Canal +, on one condition: the 3 channels begin to be issued in late 2011. So for the channel Canal + is concocting channel 20. (See the “era http://claude-soula.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2006/07/3 …). In doing so, Channel TF1 has taken his own petard.

Because five years later, the famous bonus gift is disputed by other small TNT channel, which want one too, and Brussels, which has seen the French dirty trick, and tries to cancel the gift. Meanwhile, TF1 has changed his tune: seeing the Canal project, Nonce Paolini has finally decided that he no longer supported the application of bonuses, rather than having to face the firepower of Canal, which already promises put the chain on his series and all its media rights.

Canal20 is not yet born: Brussels may well cancel the bonus 3 channels, especially as the government will no longer support them either (as TF1 does not want more). Besides, nothing says that Canal Plus would make free TV: is another job than his. Historically, the Canal has never been able to make its cable channels, like channel Jimmy popular successes, even if these chains have benefited from very strong programs. The project looks terribly Canal 20 at Jimmy’s past, which was not even looked at the Wedding Jewellery he was broadcasting (the Sopranos and Six Feet Under, among others).

Scholars who have sold their shares this morning Mass TF1 and M6 should therefore be to look twice … although on the merits, one can not but agree with the analysis that pushes Bertrand Meheut to want create a chain of more free: he believes that in today’s world, where programs “pirates” are ubiquitous, it is necessary that the TV stations to strengthen their bid to keep their audience. He thinks that by multiplying channels, we will save the TV, not playing Malthusianism, as TF1, which, in fact, prefers smooth management of the death of his contract.