Tao’s Path

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Exhibition

Tao’s Path - A Different Spiritual Approach

Venue

National Galleries of the Grand Palais

Client

National Museums Assembly

Project Manager

Jean-Jacques Bravo - Mostra Agency

Area

2000 m²

Scenography set-up, design and production of woodwork for the decoration of the walls, showcase windows (controlled air), furniture, plinths, remote installation in the workshop, assembly on site, painting of all the volumes, installation of carpeting, tapestry, Installation of windows, glass covers and logistics.

Curator: Catherine Delacour, Chief Curator, National Museum of Asian Arts Guimet, Paris.

March 29th to July 5th 2010

Another Path of Being

The Grand Palais hosts an exhibition, organized by the National Museums Assembly and the Guimet Museum, resolutely bold and ambitious, which is also intended to be initiatory, Offering an almost spiritual journey to the heart of Taoist culture and art through a transversal approach with a set of 250 works.

To mark “Tao’s Path – A Different Spiritual Approach” which presents a vast field of investigation for the iconographic decryption and to present the Taoist art that is often mistaken with Chinese art, the curator of the exhibition, Catherine Delacour, chief curator at the Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, has opted for a thematic presentation in six fields. She began by the founding principle of cosmogenesis to liturgy to account for the particularism of this originally complex mindset which was codified and institutionalized in the 2nd century by becoming a religion with its pantheon, its rites and its religious authorities.

Tao’s Path

Taoist art is vision

The scenography was designed by Jean-Jacques Bravo and Sophie Roulet on the principle of dichotomy and complementarity of emptiness and fullness.

In order to succeed on an aesthetic level as well as from the symbolism of colors used, from the night blue to the celadon, it is not entirely convincing when small objects are dispersed in large volumes while large objects do not allow any recoil.

Having understood this, it must be noted that this exhibition is not for a general public and in this respect the screening of the documentary directed by Yves de Perretti, with a popularized approach of Taoism through its contemporary practice at its origin, and the in-depth consultation of the Catalogue or album are essential prerequisites for novices in Taoism.

For the neophyte visitor, trying to understand the Taoist art that merges with Chinese art implies knowing both the principles of the first and the specificities of the second.

Tao’s Path

Mysteries and Philosophy of Chinese Art

Such as the founding cosmogony, the precellency of Chinese writing, the fundamental aniconism that has evolved into a veneration of images for liturgical reasons, the philosophy of the Chinese landscape school with the mental preparation for the act of painting through meditation is an extension of gods and immortals.

Let yourself be immersed by the works presented and show curiosity of mind.

While some remain esoteric for the uninitiated, such as those that reproduce trigrams symbolizing the regression of time that leads to immortality, other works are more accessible by their resonance for example, the existence of “a hell” whose 16th century representation evokes the one of Jerome Bosch.