Quebec, 4 October 2012
The next exhibition of the Museum of Civilisation of Quebec (MCQ), dedicated to “Nigerian arts in French private collections” will take place from 24 October 2012 to 21 April 2013 in the Canadian city.
All the works exhibited are gathered for the first time. Some of them have never been shown before, neither in Europe nor in America: altogether the public will be able to discover 187 masks, sculptures, crests and other ornaments.
Famous in France for having managed the ambitious project of the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, Michel Côté, general director of the MCQ, made the most of the “Parcours des mondes” event in Paris to promote the exhibition. This primitive arts international fair, held in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, gathered about sixty galleries specialized in African, Asian, Oceanian and American arts.
The exhibition was designed by and for the Museum of Civilisation, without the partnership of any other French institution. The approach is rather precise, for it is willing to show African art, through Nigerian works, selected by well-informed French collectors: such is precisely its ambition.