Serment des Ancetres – Le Manoir Alexandra

La Joconde & Golden Ratio

A la fin de 1946, à mon arrivée à Paris, je me précipitai, haletant, au musée du Louvre, vers la célèbre toile de Leonardo, comme au premier rendez-vous pris loin de Jacmel avec Nana Siloé. J’en fus profondément décú. La Joconde était bien le chef-d’oeuvre d’un peintre génial, mais, comparée à la jeune fille de mon souvenir, elle semblait plutôt ricaner, sans aucun feu intérieur.

Hadriana dans Tous mes Rêves | René Dépestre

Haitian Chancellor Laurent Lamothe at the Louvre Museum during an official visit of the exhibition of Le Serment des Ancêtres:, property of the Musée National d’Haiti.

Spiral stairs at the Louvre museum in Paris, France:

Spiral stairs at l’Habitation Leclerc in Port-au-Prince, Haïti:

Anghelen drawing of iron-laced spiral staircases in Jacmel:

Old Pergola in Jacmel’s Place d’Armes

Bringing the pergola back to Place d’Armes as the entry-way to an underground museum

Book Design- Lace and Leather

Une fois tout le monde couché, je me levais sans bruit, le coeur battant, pour aller célébrer un rite bouleversant dans l’atelier de couture du rez-de-chaussée. A la lueur d’un quinquet que j’allumais, je faisais danser le mannequin, Je lui caressais sa ronde encolure. Je lui soufflais à l’oreille les mots d’une tendresse dont je ne soupçonnais pas l’ascendant en moi. J’aidais sa flamme à prendre des forces and notre foyer, à l’abri du vent, à la veille du fabuleux voyage qu’allait entreprendre ma soeur d’eau bénite.

Hadriana dans tous mes Rêves, René Dépestre

Book in Progress:

On Issuu: http://issuu.com/nathaliejolivert/docs/spatial_narratives_7

Book Design Idea: Must convey issues of Recognition.

Lace and Leather, Contrast between Hadriana in all My Dreams and Oath of the Ancestors, Female and Male, French and Haitian, Recognition and Patriotism.

Front Cover in fabric and lace with the embroidered title “Le Manoir Alexandra”.

Back Cover in Leather as I approach the exhibition of Le Serment des Ancetres and proposal for a Performance Space.

In the back cover, a pocket to insert the catalogue to the exhibition of Le Serment des Ancêtres “Oath of the Ancestors” in le Manoir Alexandra.

[Serment des Ancetres] in the Louvre Museum

The picture at the bottom right, is the only one I have found so far of the painting Le Serment des Ancetres exhibited in le Louvre. Laurent Lamothe, current Haitian Chancellor was in France recently and had the opportunity to visit Le Louvre and see the painting. The exhibition “The Museum World” curated by writer J.M. Le-Clezio ends on February 6th. Here is the official link to the exhibition: http://www.louvre.fr/en/expositions/louvre-invites-j-m-g-le-clezio-%E2%80%93-museum-world

This post follows ideas for an exhibition of Le Serment des Ancetres in Le Manoir Alexandra. See older post: Oath of the Ancestors/Serment des Ancêtres

Oath of the Ancestors | Serment des Ancêtres

Exhibition design around a painting which mobility through time and space constantly challenges our notion of freedom and cultural ownership. Le Serment des Ancetres by Guillaume Guillon Lethiere revealed the prominent French painter’s identity as a Mixed-race child of a French father and Guadeloupean mother. By sending the painting to Haiti in 1822, he showed his solidarity to the newly emancipated Black Nation, yet he rendered a white God sanctifying the Oath between Dessalines and Pétion, expressing personal struggle in looking for his French father’s recognition. This painting conveys many complex social layers also found in the Manoir Alexandra.

Below, schematic ideas as to how to interpret such exhibitions in the Manoir Alexandra

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Serment des Ancêtres, damaged during the earthquake and retrieved from the Haitian Presidential Palace. Today, the Serment des Ancêtres is exhibited at the Louvre Museum under a show titled “Les Musées sont des Mondes” … http://mini-site.louvre.fr/trimestriel/2011/3/index.html#/28

Black Content in a White Cube

When the Modern confronts the Old … and when the governing voice…. is still the same

More Coming Soon