Bangladesh possesses an immensely important cultural heritage, this arising from the fact that the eastern half of Bengal has been one of the cultural richest regions of the Indian world; a vision far from the catastrophic one that the western world often tends to favour. The region is associated with the art of the Pala and Sena dynasties (8th – 13th century).
Archaeological study has however revealed vestiges that are more ancient like the Mahasthan site which stands on what used to be Pundravardhana, and goes back to the Maurya and Sunga periods (3rd – 1st century BC). It has also revealed vestiges from the Gupta period (4th – 6th century). Pundravardhana-Mahasthan is, to this day, the oldest Indian city known to be in the east. But Bangladesh also harbours the oldest Buddhist monastery of the Indian world, Paharpur, which has now been listed on the UNESCO’s list of protected monuments.
Sculptures of a impressive dimension have been recently unearthed: a bronze Buddha measuring 1,3 metres in Paharpur in 1982, a Gupta Buddha (from Sarnath) sculpted on both sides at Mahasthan in 1992, a bronze Vajrasattva, 1,40 metres in height, at Mainamati in 1995, and finally an Avalokitesvara found on the same site of the same material and size.
These pieces have rarely been published and will be leaving Bangladesh for the first time for the exhibition. To this one must add the fact that Bangladesh has a Muslim majority as compared to the Indian west Bengal, and consequently the Islamic heritage is original and of special interest.
The objective of this exhibition is to show for the first time outside of Bangladesh, the unbelievably rich and complex heritage of this country. Benefiting from recent archaeological research helps us to show works from the Maurya period and go on until the 19th century. And thus we will retrace history whilst emphasising on a certain number of major sites. As a matter of fact, one of the characteristics of this heritage is that a lot of the pieces are well documented and enable us to situate the same in their precise historical and artistic context. The four great religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam that determine the history of Bangladesh will be duly represented.
The lenders are all government institutions:
- The Bangladesh National Museum at Dhaka, under the Ministry of Culture
- The site museums under the directorate of Archaeology and thus the Ministry of Culture.
- Mahasthan Archaeological Museum
- Mainamati Archaeological Museum
- Paharpur Archaeological Museum
The Varendra Research Museum at Rajshahi, under the University of Rajshahi and thus depending on the Ministry of National Education, it is the oldest museum in Bangladesh.
Masterpieces of Ganges deltaCollections from the Bangladesh museums
26 december, 2007 - 31 March, 2008
Masterpieces of Ganges delta
Collections from the Bangladesh museums
November 21st, 2007 - March 3rd, 2008
MUSEE NATIONAL DES ARTS ASIATIQUES GUIMET
www.museeguimet.fr
6, place d'Iéna
entrée du musée 19, avenue d'Iéna / entrée du Panthéon bouddhique
75116 PARIS
telephone number: 01 56 52 53 00
fax: 01 56 52 53 54
mail: josy.torlet@guimet.fr
Metro: Iéna
RER: Pont de l'Alma
Bus: 22, 30, 32, 63, 82
The Musée Guimet presents one of the leading collections of Asian art and civilisations in Europe, taking you on a journey through Korea, China and Japan...
Explore the museum’s major Chinese collection, which features some 20,000 objects reflecting seven thousand years of Asian art. Fascinating too, the Indian section relates, among other things, different chapters drawn from the Buddhist legend. Not far from the museum, visitors to the Panthéon Bouddhique can enjoy the peaceful natural surroundings of the Japanese garden and experience a tea ceremony, one of the most refined aspects of the Japanese lifestyle.
During the Meiji era (1868-1912), Japan renovation began. Artists are beginning to become familiar with new technologies, including oil painting. Drifting away from the pictorial tradition of the archipelago, these "Western-style" painters therefore increasingly traveled to Europe, particularly Paris, frantically studying modern painting. They'll play a crucial role in the modernization of Japanese art. This exhibition covers half a century of Western-style painting (yôga) in Japan. More than 50 paintings are presented, masterpieces by a dozen artists who stayed in Paris. A rare opportunity to discover these painters who still enjoy a huge reputation in Japan but are rather unknown in France, with the exception of Foujita. 
On his first visit to France from 1884 to 1893, Kuroda Seiki studied oil painting with the academic painter Raphael Collin. This meeting has been crucial for the development of yôga painting in Japan. Displayed side by side, the works of both artists stress the considerable influence of the french painter on Kuroda. Upon his return to Japan, Kuroda took over as head of the department of Western painting at the Fine Art Academy in Tokyo. It allowed him to introduce not only the pictorial techniques of the Western academic, but also the enlighted style of naturalism represented by the Impressionists. 
Over a century ago, Seiki Kuroda, Chû Asai, Eisaku Wada and Takeji Fujishima works were already shown in Paris, on the occasion of the 1900's Paris Universal Exhibition. The exhibition was a shock to these Japanese artists. Some of them took this opportunity to settle in France and create. Changes occurred then gradually in their styles: Kuroda looked toward Impressionism; his pupil Wada refined his academic style; Fujishima claimed an oriental aesthetic sense ; Asai for its part, shifted away from oil and headed towards decorative arts. 
In the early twentieth century, Sôtarô Yasui and Ryûzaburô Umehara completed their painting training in Paris. Both were from Kyoto, a city steeped in ancient traditions. Amazed by the works of Renoir, Umehara embarked on a brightly colored style, in search of a daring originality. Yasui gradually mastered the technics of drawing, influenced by Pissarro then Cezanne. Together they'd create a purely Japanese occidentalized painting style.
Since 1918, the Japanese flocked again in France. Among them, five painters presented in this section are enthusiastic about their stay in the capital, tossed up in the whirlwind of avant-garde movements: Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism ... The best known is Tsuguharu Foujita (Leonard), emblematic of the Ecole de Paris. Vlaminck having strongly criticized his academic style, Yûzô Saeki moved towards representations of the slums of Paris. Hanjirô Sakamoto prefered to paint a landscape whose great modernity reveals a very personal style. Abandoning the academic style, Zenzaburô Kojima invented in the 20's a daring decorative style, "the merger between Western subject and Oriental spirit." Taro Okamoto marvels at the work of Picasso, joined the Abstraction - Création group before joining the surrealists. Upon their return they will have to face a problem peculiar to Japanese painters: translating Japanese identity to Western style. 
