GEORGES HENRI RIVIÈRE AND THE INCEPTION OF THE FRENCH MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
UDC index:
УДК 069:39(44)+069-051(=133.1)”1897/1985”
DOI: 10.31773/2078-1768-2024-66-240-249
Article ID in the RSCI:
Article file: Download
Information about authors: Kuklinova Irina Anatolievna, PhD of culture studies, associate professor of Department of Museology and Cultural Heritage, Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Annotation: The idea of allocating ethnographic collections characterizing French traditional culture to a special museum collection first appeared in France in the 1930s. It took several decades following its original conception to actually bringing this idea to. The famous museologist Georges-Henri Rivière played one of the leading roles creating the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of France. The 1930s were not only a time of rapid development in terms of ethnology as a science but also of a serious transformation of the museum as a sociocultural institution. At that time, museums began to realize they had new visitors – working class people. As a result, significant effort was put into making scientific knowledge more popular. Rivière was one of the most prolific advocates of this process. The factors that affected the development of museums of ethnography at this time are examined in this article. These factors include political factors, the formation of ethnology as an independent university course of study, putting more emphasis on the collection of objects as the most important stage of their studies, and museum experience becoming international, meaning experience could be shared between European and North American institutions. After joining the Ethnographic Museum of Trocadéro, Rivière travelled, studying the experience of presentation and popularization of cultural heritage in various regions of the world. The result of his trips was the papers he published in 1936–1938. In them, the concept of a national museum dedicated to traditional French culture was outlined. It is specifically noted that when creating a new museum, you must take into account the numerous existing regional museums with similar themes. As a result, it is recommended to classify museums based on their collections and the target audience. The future National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions was to become a ‘synthesized’ museum accumulating the material of and referring to regional museums that had formed as more narrow, highly specialized museums in their field. Rivière placed significant emphasis on visitors to the future museum, it was to become really popular, and open to a wide range of people. Extensive field work to collect and provide a specialized academic description of the objects of traditional culture became an important element for creating this ‘synthesized’ museum, they formed the basis for their broad interpretation when it came to exhibitions.
Keywords: ethnographic museum, G.H. Rivière, French periodicals, exposition activities, museum visitors.
DOI: 10.31773/2078-1768-2024-66-240-249
Article ID in the RSCI:
Article file: Download
Information about authors: Kuklinova Irina Anatolievna, PhD of culture studies, associate professor of Department of Museology and Cultural Heritage, Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Annotation: The idea of allocating ethnographic collections characterizing French traditional culture to a special museum collection first appeared in France in the 1930s. It took several decades following its original conception to actually bringing this idea to. The famous museologist Georges-Henri Rivière played one of the leading roles creating the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of France. The 1930s were not only a time of rapid development in terms of ethnology as a science but also of a serious transformation of the museum as a sociocultural institution. At that time, museums began to realize they had new visitors – working class people. As a result, significant effort was put into making scientific knowledge more popular. Rivière was one of the most prolific advocates of this process. The factors that affected the development of museums of ethnography at this time are examined in this article. These factors include political factors, the formation of ethnology as an independent university course of study, putting more emphasis on the collection of objects as the most important stage of their studies, and museum experience becoming international, meaning experience could be shared between European and North American institutions. After joining the Ethnographic Museum of Trocadéro, Rivière travelled, studying the experience of presentation and popularization of cultural heritage in various regions of the world. The result of his trips was the papers he published in 1936–1938. In them, the concept of a national museum dedicated to traditional French culture was outlined. It is specifically noted that when creating a new museum, you must take into account the numerous existing regional museums with similar themes. As a result, it is recommended to classify museums based on their collections and the target audience. The future National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions was to become a ‘synthesized’ museum accumulating the material of and referring to regional museums that had formed as more narrow, highly specialized museums in their field. Rivière placed significant emphasis on visitors to the future museum, it was to become really popular, and open to a wide range of people. Extensive field work to collect and provide a specialized academic description of the objects of traditional culture became an important element for creating this ‘synthesized’ museum, they formed the basis for their broad interpretation when it came to exhibitions.
Keywords: ethnographic museum, G.H. Rivière, French periodicals, exposition activities, museum visitors.
