Brittany, 2 August 2011
An exhibition entitled “Rencontres en Polynésie, Victor Segalen et l’exotisme” (Polynesian meetings: Victor Segalen and Exoticism) will be running until 6 November 2011 at the Daoulas Abbey in Finistère.
The Daoulas Abbey was founded in the twelfth century and has been the property of the regional council of Finistère since 1984. Every year, the medieval building hosts exhibitions on world-renowned archaeological, historical or ethnographical subjects such as the Celts, Inuits, Bronze Age, Ancient Egypt and the Dogon. The church, cloister and entry porch have all been listed as historical monuments since 1986.
Victor Segalen (1978-1919) was a draughtsman, poet, ethnographer and archaeologist who gained fame for his travels to China from 1908 onwards and his photographs, currently conserved at the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet. The exhibition focuses on the Polynesian period of Segalen’s life, before his major voyages to China. After studying medicine, Victor Segalen received an appointment in French Polynesia. He stayed in Tahiti in 1903 and 1904. During a stopover at the Marquesas Islands, he bought the last sketches of Paul Gauguin, who had died three months before his arrival.
The ethnologist Roger Boulay and art historian Patrick Absalon wished to demonstrate the modernity of Victor Segalen’s ideas by placing them within a colonial context. Additionally, they wanted to depict the mingling between the races in Polynesian societies without denying that the inhabitants also suffered.
The exhibition features films, traditional art from the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti and other Polynesian island, the works by Gauguin acquired by Victor Segalen, as well as manuscripts, photographs and drawing boards.