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Plans for 'Desert Louvre' Provoke Outrage in France
French architect Jean Nouvel, Louvre director Henri Loyrette, Mubarak al-Muhairi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, and French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres talk to journalists at the signing ceremony Tuesday.
(By Kamran Jebreili -- Associated Press)
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"If the emirates want to have access to Western art, why don't they buy some?" asked retired Louvre curator Alcouffe. "We can counsel them in buying -- curators do it all the time. We don't need to expatriate our works."
But therein lies the problem, according to Abu Dhabi officials. They say that charging into the world's commercial art market armed with billions of dollars would jolt already stratospheric art prices.
Under the agreement, eight French art institutions would lend pieces to Abu Dhabi over a 30-year period until the emirate is able to build its own collections. In return for the Louvre name, the artworks and assistance from the French in setting up the Abu Dhabi museum, the $1.3 billion package includes $33 million for the renovation of a wing of the Paris Louvre and donations for major renovations at the seven other French museums involved in the project. It also includes money for an art restoration center in Paris.
For Bernard Notari, who took over as director of the 1,900-room Fontainebleau Chateau outside Paris six months ago, the $13 million windfall from Abu Dhabi is five times the annual budget he receives from the French government. The staff of the chateau, which was home and hunting lodge to centuries of French royalty, will use half the money to restore a theater that hasn't been open to the public since the 19th century.
Some French art experts say they oppose the plan because they fear French art could be censored by curators from the more conservative Muslim society in Abu Dhabi. During the news conference in Abu Dhabi, an Arab journalist asked if the Middle Eastern curators would guarantee that no pornography would be displayed at the Abu Dhabi Louvre.
Louvre and Abu Dhabi officials said the decision on art selection would be made by a committee composed of members from France and Abu Dhabi, but they did not specifically address questions of whether nudes would be included in exhibits.
"On the one hand, the minister of culture talks about the benefits to give access to Western art to this part of the world, and on the other, Boucher or Fragonard works won't be shown because of nudity," said Roland Recht, 65, a professor of art history at the College de France. "If they censor the contents of the exhibitions, they won't show French culture anymore; it's a decoy."
Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.
