Magazines - Tribal Art  

By Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter

Introduction
The simultaneous presentation in a single exhibition of objects as diverse as Naga textiles and ornaments, Orissa bronzes, and Karnataka sculptures by henceforth celebrated artists from the Indian populations known as “Adivasi” (“first inhabitants,” in Sanskrit), as well as of works specifically commissioned by the Musée du Quai Branly, represents an audacious undertaking, even a risky one, according to some. However, this is the project that the Quai Branly is realizing and it is soberly titled Autres Maîtres de l’Inde (India’s Other Masters). The title actually says much about the novelty of this project, as the Western perception of the Indian subcontinent has for centuries been restricted to the hackneyed and imaginary: languid dancers and voluptuous odalisques; fierce-faced, turbaned fakirs; Hindu temples buried in the heart of the jungle, the sites of orgiastic and bloody ceremonies … . Engravings and photographs in the exhibition emphasize the stereotypes associated with the Adivasi, but the Quai Branly’s presentation dispels this “exotic” vision by examining the fundamental notion of artistic creation and by questioning categorization and traditional reference points. The canonic statues of Shiva and Vishnu, the Moghol miniatures, and the Bollywood chromos are forgotten here. The India that the Quai Branly presents is that of the marginal artists, the “out of caste,” who, at a distance from the feverish metropolises of New Delhi or Mumbai, maintain their traditional language and the memory of their rituals and their ancestors. But things are not so simple, and some visitors will be surprised and even disconcerted.