This is the French-language catalogue about the exhibition The spirit of "Mingei" in Japan : Folk art design presented at musée du quai Branly, Paris from 30th Sept. 2008 until 11th January 2009.
This exhibit is based on a specific case-that of thinker Yanagi Soetsu, promoter of the “Mingei” movement, and his son, Yanagi Sori, who was a premier post-war designer. The exhibit causes one to reflect on the relationship, established during the 20th century, between the rediscovery of certain traditional arts and international modern art through design.
This dynamic comes out of a strictly ethnographic and anthropological perception of traditional folk art. Accordingly, it can be inscribed inside of a specific historical situation: that of Japan during the first half of the 20th century (until the end of the 1950’s). It also has to do with an aesthetic, moral and formal perspective that today is echoed by the “original forms” of certain contemporary designers.
