“Museum rhymes with history frozen under a bell jar. » The sentence, uttered by the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati last April, during a trip to Tulle, made art historian Adrien Goetz jump. “You really should never set foot in a museum to say such a thinghe laments. Museums are constantly in motion, they are enriched, renewed, opened…”
To illustrate it, Adrien Goetz wrote My museums in freedom, 120 artistic walks in Francewhich is not a guide but “a plea for these museums and treasures of our country”.
In Châteauroux, a relic of museum history
The Bertrand Museum, in Châteauroux (Indre), houses a priceless reliquary, that of Vivant Denon. This small portable museum contains a piece of the shirt that Napoleon portrayed on the day of his death, a piece of Molière's bone, a piece of Voltaire's tooth, part of Henri IV's mustache, and Agnès's hair. Sorel… “A true relic of museum history”according to Adrien Goetz, who also sees a good dose of humor in it.
At the Museum of Fine Arts in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), it is the inventiveness which marked the art historian: as they lack the central piece of a work (the predella of the altarpiece of San Zeno), exhibited at the Louvre, they decided to exhibit the copy made by Degas in its place. “A wonderful idea”greets the member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
At the Sainte-Croix museum in Poitiers (Vienna), Adrien Goetz enjoyed discovering a reliquary glass from the 9e century, found in the 19e in Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, which is “for the moment the only intact testimony of this type of object that has reached us”. Without forgetting the magnetic board The Weeping Venus by Romaine Brooks, a portrait of his companion Ida Rubinstein, who is none other than the one to whom Ravel dedicated his Bolero.
Very vibrant places
These few examples from the Center-West are enough to remind us “that there is not only the Louvre in life and that there is no need for great masterpieces to arrive from Paris” so that all these museums are “dynamic”, supports Adrien Goetz.
Adrien Goetz is a member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
© (Photo by JF Pag)
He considers them to be wonderful gateways to discovering the cities that shelter them. But also like very living places. “The museum is no longer a fixed spacehe congratulates himself. Now, you can do yoga, culinary initiations, workshops for children… You come there to have an experience, not to absorb knowledge or acquire a veneer of culture. »
A change to be credited to the professionals who work there and “who did not wait for directives from the Ministry of Culture to do all that”recalls the historian. These guides, speakers, mediators or facilitators “poorly paid and little recognized even though they are entrusted with treasures”. If Adrien Goetz wants to believe that “the museum is no longer an elite sport or an intimidating citadel that carries a criterion of social distinction”it’s largely thanks to them.
Haro about the selfie, really?
The historian also praises the openness allowed by social networks. “They have the virtue of placing all works on an equal footing and allowing views”he writes in his work. The author extends his thoughts in an interview: “Thanks to lots of Instagram accounts dedicated to works of art, we have an unprecedented mix of images. And the authority that makes us look at them is no longer scholarly. He is neither a teacher, nor a professor, nor a curator. It is a new legitimacy which is not imposed with authority. »
In this regard, he wants to challenge the virulent criticism of the practice of selfies: “We can easily get away with saying: “People are stupid, they take photos with their backs to the works. ” But I see it more as a form of appropriation. It’s the idea of having your place in front of or next to a work. It's not that absurd. » Carried away by his eternal optimism, he concludes with a laugh: “Let the grumpy people grumble!” »
“My museums in freedom – 120 artistic walks in France” by Adrien Goetz, Grasset editions, 352 pages, €23.
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