Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced its latest international exhibition, \u201cStories of Paper\u201d, organised in partnership with Mus\u00e9e du Louvre and France Mus\u00e9ums, in collaboration with 16 French and international institutions and private collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To run from 20th April to 24th July, 2022, the exhibition explores the vast range of artistic expressions of paper, with the aim of cultivating the visitors\u2019 deeper knowledge of a familiar, yet ever more distant material. Approximately 100 artworks and objects, including books, manuscripts, drawings, a reproduction of a house and 13 contemporary artworks and installations made of paper, will be on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These come mainly from the collections of Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, as well as 15 other leading cultural institutions and private collections including Louvre Abu Dhabi, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, Centre Georges Pompidou, Sharjah Art Foundation and Zayed National Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStories of Paper\u201d is curated by Xavier Salmon, General Curator and Director of the Department of Drawings and Prints, and Victor Hundsbuckler, Curator at the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, with the support of Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Director of Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manuel Rabat\u00e9, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, said, \u201cIt is entirely appropriate that paper should be the subject of Louvre Abu Dhabi\u2019s second exhibition of 2022 \u2013 exploring a single medium and the specific techniques that encompass it. The history of paper, an invention that transcended geography in its journey from East to West while transforming cultures and societies in the process, exemplifies the stories of cultural interaction and intellectual exchange that the museum is committed to examining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The history of paper is spread across 12 sections, all of which highlight the key qualities and its varied use across centuries with immersive scenography. The themed sections include Plant-based origin, A Humble Material, Colour, Movement, Relationship with Light, An Untruthful Material, Memory, Fragility and Resilience, Space, Possibility of a Collection, A Medium for Reproducing Artworks, and A Malleable Medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Xavier Salmon said, \u201cIf there is one material that is a common good for the human race, it is most certainly paper. Paper was invented in China around 200 B.C., and rapidly made its way to Korea and Japan then eventually along the Silk Road. From there, the Islamic world absorbed this material, and stretched its use across the Middle East and along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Years later, in the 11th century, the first paper mills were documented in Al Andalus. Shortly after, in the 13th and 14th centuries, the advancement of mass paper production took place in Italy and France and the demand for paper grew expeditiously worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victor Hundsbuckler said, \u201cThis exhibition reflects on paper being one of humanity\u2019s most important inventions, helping to document and preserve material for thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlights of the exhibition include a selection of artworks from Louvre Abu Dhabi\u2019s collection including Pablo Picasso\u2019s Portrait of a Woman, 1928, two Japanese prints by artist Katsushika Hokusai, and a 13th-century Double page from De Materia Medica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlights from international lenders include a panorama on seventeen panels of Carmontelle\u2019s Figures Walking in a Parkland, c. 1795 (Mus\u00e9e du Louvre), a 19th-century manuscript folded in the manner of a screen from Burma (Mus\u00e9e des arts asiatiques Guimet) and Mun\u0101\u011f\u0101t \u02bfAl\u012b, a Quran written in fingernail calligraphy (Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other highlights include artworks by prominent contemporary Emirati and Middle Eastern artists, such as Hassan Sharif\u2019s Dictionary, 2015 (Sharjah Art Foundation), Dana Awartani\u2019s He Is who Created The Heavens and Earth in Six Days, 2005 (Zayed National Museum) and Mohammed Kazem\u2019s Scratches on Paper, 2011 (Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde). Visitors will be also able to view, in Louvre Abu Dhabi\u2019s Lower Plaza, the Labirinto e Grande Pozzo by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto \u2013 an interactive contemporary installation that explores movement as a key characteristic of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Souraya Noujaim said, \u201cStories of Paper offers a series of poetic odes to matter, technique, space, form, and sound. Odes to a multifaceted material, a vehicle for the emergence of new worlds, and a witness to economic and social upheaval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Details of the rich cultural and educational programming accompanying Stories of Paper will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information about the exhibition and to book tickets, please visit louvreabudhabi.ae or call Louvre Abu Dhabi at +971 600 56 55 66.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Entrance to the exhibition is free with the museum\u2019s general admission tickets. Admission to the museum is free for children under the age of 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced its latest international exhibition, \u201cStories of Paper\u201d, organised in partnership with Mus\u00e9e du Louvre and France Mus\u00e9ums, in collaboration with 16 French and international institutions and private collections. To run from 20th April to 24th July, 2022, the exhibition explores the vast range of artistic expressions of paper, with the aim of cultivating the visitors\u2019 deeper knowledge of a familiar, yet ever more distant material. Approximately 100 artworks and objects, including books, manuscripts, drawings, a reproduction of a house and 13 contemporary artworks and installations made of paper, will be on display. These come mainly […]<\/p>\n