Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Non-Western Art And The Musée Du Quai Branly: The Challenge Of Authenticity, Mary Grace Cathryn Bernard

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis discusses the recent construction and anthropological collaboration of the Paris museum: Musée du quai Branly (MQB), an art museum dedicated to showcasing art collections specific to aboriginal and indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The opening of MQB in June 2006 raised a plethora of controversial questions concerning the museum’s methods of curatorial display of the art it has made its primary focus. One of the major issues discussed examines the Quai Branly’s authentic, or inauthentic, representation of certain artworks displayed throughout the museum. Thus, the essay raises the questions: does a non-Western object remain …