Art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas
Both a coffee table book and scientific work, La Collection gives the uninformed reader, as well as the connoisseur, the chance to explore non-European arts and cultures through the finest examples selected from the musée du quai Branly collection.
La Collection is divided into 6 sections corresponding to the four continents covered by the museum's collections - Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Americas - and the photographic and historical collections. This introduction to art history is structured for each geographical area around a selection of forty works, accompanied by an introductory essay. Each geographical region is thereby organized not only according to traditional approaches to the cultures but also according to the reality of the collections.
This stunning work provides everybody with the essential notions for navigating around the 300 000 objects of the musée du quai Branly collections as well as for understanding the principles behind the creation of other cultures. The museum's scientific team has invited almost one hundred and fifty specialists from the different continents to write about one or more of the objects, structured around three main themes: the history of the work, its context and its use in the original culture, its aesthetic or symbolic value.
