Guimet research plan 2026 2030 23

Part 1 → The structuring axes of research at the Villa Guimet

Axis 3

History

of the collections

The history of the collections at hand , their provenances and their acquisition

methods have always been the subject of a heightened attention and vigilance

within museums and specif ically in the musée Guimet . However , in recent years ,

the questions regarding the object ’ s origins have taken on a specif ic prominence ,

following the renewed views and mindsets on the sensitive subject of the colonial

past and , more generally , on the presence of non - European collections in Western

museums . Indeed , if the musée Guimet has always taken into account the history

of its collections for which it is responsible as a major aspect of the research

surrounding them , it is certain that this renewed look and the complex questions

it now raises implies a more in - depth consideration of the historical , economic

and relational contexts in which these acquisitions were made and their primary

motivations . Recent work in this f ield and communications aimed at the countries

from which the works originate have already been set up with Afghanistan ( DAFA

Collections ) , China ( Pelliot collection in Dunhuang ) , Cambodia ( Delaporte ,

Aymonier and EFEO collections ) , Vietnam ( Carpeaux photographic collection ,

Champa art ) , sometimes in the context of institutional cooperations ( DAFA , Ministry

of Culture and Fine Arts of Cambodia , Dunhuang Academy ) . These exchanges

and scientific research on these fundamental matters will have to be further

strengthened in the years to come .

These research projects into origins and provenance makes it possible to gather

information for the inventory and documentation of objects , but also to reconstruct

their historical trajectories and to unpack the relationships and chains of ownership

involved , hence its essentiality today . This work requires a proactive and methodical

approach It involves cross referencing the most diverse sources and documented

results in the most rigorous and exhaustive way possible This is why over the next

five years a sponsorship contract will be dedicated to provenance research

a priority and fundamental axis of the museum s strategic research plan

Research program on the history

of the Chinese collections

circulating on the art market in

the 20th century through the

study of C . T . Loo ’ s / Frank Caro ’ s

collection

The research program on the history of collections will focus first on Chinese

collections that circulated on the market in the 20th century , in particular those from

the dealer Ching Tsai Loo ( 1880 - 1957 ) , Lu Huan Wen ( his real name ) , better known

in the West as C . T . Loo . Settled in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century , C . T . Loo

was one of the most important importers of Asian ( and particularly Chinese ) art ,

enriching museums with f irst - rate works . The thousands of f lexible or glass plate

negatives , along with hundreds of cardboard cards and handwritten letters donated

to the musée Guimet by the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University , bear witness

to how the world ’ s major Asian art collections were assembled between the late 19th

and early 20th centuries .

The objectives of this research program are multiple – and absolutely fundamental

– for the knowledge and study of the Musée Guimet ' s collections : to f ind and establish

the provenance and chain of ownership ( local and Western dealers ) of each work

in the Musée Guimet that has been acquired from the New York gallery ; to compare

these archives with other collections and documents concerning the works acquired

in Paris from other influential art dealers of this year . period ( Langweil , Bing . . . ) ;

to deepen the knowledge of the history of the Asian art market at the beginning

of the twentieth century ; to def ine the modalities of the exit of these works from

Chinese territory ( illicit exit , legal purchase , etc . ) and to study the relations between

C . T . Loo , Émile Guimet , Paul Pelliot and Joseph Hackin . The works concerned by this

program come from several sections of the musée Guimet – China , Vietnam , Japan ,

the Himalayan world , India – and are of a diverse nature : statuary , textiles , furniture ,

ceramics , bronze , jade , painting .

Ching Tsai Loo 1880 1957 an inf luential dealer of Chinese art objects

New York Times Archives © Loo Family Photographs Freer Gallery of Art Smithsonian