Clémenceau the Tiger and Asia at Guimet museum in Paris (March 12th-June 16th 2014)

An interesting exhibition is currently held at the « musée national des arts asiatiques also known as  « Guimet Muséum » in Paris : « Clémenceau the tiger and Asia » . I visited it on Sunday 8th, my last day in Paris and the hottest day of the week, a kind of heat  wave that usually pushes me back to Calais in order to take refuge in  our chilly weather by the sea, which happens usually later in the month of June or beginning July, as it was the case last year.
Unusually this temporary exhibition is hosted in the basement (but perhaps for the museum it’s the ground floor because we have to climb up a stair first to reach the entrance of the museum and the tills,  and I had to climb down another stair for the visit itself !).
As in many other museums I had to regret the lack of seats to rest during the visit , but it’s well known that museums are not intended for lame ducks, sometimes it’s possible to borrow the seat of the museum attendant when he is at the other end of the room. Anyway it was cool inside and it was not crowded for a Sunday morning.
If you  would like to know more about this exhibition which will be over within a fortnight now I put one link in English and another one in french.
What I’ve learnt about this man is that besides being a politician who during the first world war visited the trenches in order to give courage and bring solace to the soldiers, he fought Jules Ferry about his colonialist policy and fell in love with the Budha persona , which rather strange for a famous anticlérical ! he was one of the first to collect items and antiques from Asia and as a politician he pushed the Louvres Museum to acquire his first master pieces from Asia …

http://int.rendezvousenfrance.com/en/events/clemenceau-tiger-and-asia-musee-guimet-paris

http://www.guimet.fr/fr/expositions/expositions-a-venir/la-tentation-de-lorient-georges-clemenceau-et-lasie

http://www.lefigaro.fr/arts-expositions/2014/03/14/03015-20140314ARTFIG00005-clemenceau-tigre-epris-d-asie.php

http://www.rtl.fr/emission/laissez-vous-tenter/billet/l-exposition-clemenceau-le-tigre-et-l-asie-un-portrait-inedit-de-l-amateur-d-arts-asiatiques-7770348116

http://www.evous.fr/Mars-2014-au-musee-Guimet-l-exposition-Clemenceau-le-Tigre-et-l-Asie,1185703.html

Hi Jean-Pierre,

Thanks a lot for this review of Clémenceau's exhibition.

Thanks a lot Jean-Pierre for these explanations.  I didn't know Clemenceau's passion for Asian art and antiques.

A famous photo shows Clémenceau with elephants -> http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1921-I3-CLEMENCEAU-JAIPUR-RADJPOUTANA-MAHARADJAHS-INDE-ELEPHANT-/191071132687

A web page relating a trip of his to Asia -> http://www.asia.aefe-asie.net/?p=1862

thank you for these adds Gerard, the picture with the elephants was taken in 1921 during his trip in India where after a serious fever his physician advised him not to go and better go back home , but he was not the kind of person who could be advised to do something ...

Jean-Pierre,

As a walker, I often go to Giverny and think of Clémenceau who used to visit Monet there.

yes he was a close friend of Monnet, he sent him more than 150 letters and visited him often in Giverny . They shared a passion for gardens . He even wrote a book about "Claude Monnet, les Nymphéas" ...