Guest country: Japan
Theme: pleasure
Duration: 4.-6. June 2021
Location: Château de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, France
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French Minister of Culture, proudly announces the tenth edition of the Festival of Art History, which will take place from June 4 to 6, 2021 in the château and city of Fontainebleau, with the theme of pleasure and guest country of Japan.
Unique in the world, this event, organized in partnership with the Institut national d’histoire de l’art and the Château de Fontainebleau, offers to both amateurs and professionals a rich panorama of art history and heritage, from prehistory to contemporary creation. The Festival offers lectures, roundtables, discussions, screenings, workshops, and tours, bringing together art historians, artists, architects, filmmakers, writers, and others from all generations. An occasion ripe for discovery and exchange, a place rich with exceptional encounters, the Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary in a global context requiring certain adjustments of logistics, but not of ambition. Embracing a hybrid format, this year’s program will combine elements of in-person and remote experiences.
The Festival kicks off with a series of exceptional events: an inaugural address by one of today’s greatest artists, Annette Messager, a presentation by artist Gérard Garouste, guest of honor at the Springtime Academy of Art History (École de Printemps en histoire de l’art), and the inauguration of the exhibition The Japanese Collections of the Château de Fontainebleau: Art and Diplomacy.
While this edition’s format will be hybrid, its structure and spirit will continue to reflect the design of Festivals past: an abundant offering of lectures, round tables, discussions, book presentations, and screenings, focused on the art history of the guest country and the annual theme. With regards to theme, the Festival will evoke creating, seeing, touching, smelling, and listening, pleasures that engage the five senses, as well as others experienced by the soul. With regards to the guest country, the Festival will offer a glimpse into the extraordinary creativity characterizing Japan’s history and showcase “the land of the rising sun” from ancient architecture to recent creations, from the manufacture of handicrafts to contemporary design. Participants are invited to see and understand topics such as the phenomenon of Japonisme, the history of the Japanese garden and its exportation, the lure of Manga comics, or the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the role of contemporary Japanese art in the international art scene. To launch this marathon of events, a tea ceremony in the tradition of the Urasenke School will welcome participants with this traditional ritual of hospitality while paying homage to the Festival’s invited country.
For more information, please visit the website here.
