China. The year 2024 was a special year in relations between France and China. It was in fact sixty years ago, in January 1964, in the midst of the Cold War, that General de Gaulle recognized the legitimacy of the People’s Republic of China – he was the first Western head of state to do so –, considering only by their “affinities for everything that concerns the mind”the two countries would be led to “ lead growing cultural cooperation ». The line was drawn. The words and gestures are still remembered, and are worth, according to the French ambassador in Beijing since 2023, Bertrand Lortholary, “a deep recognition that is still felt”. Hence this celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries which have naturally chosen the cultural axis as a common ground for exchanges via a very official “year of Franco-Chinese cultural tourism”.
French institutions at the forefront
From January 5, 2024, Notre-Dame de Paris had the honor of being represented as an ice sculpture (20 meters high) during the famous festival in Harbin, in the north of the country, the third tourist site in China after La Cité forbidden and the Great Wall. A focus on the cathedral complemented by several exhibitions. For several years now, Chinese museums have been particularly fond of exhibitions from French institutions or specially produced for the occasion. It is, paradoxically, the public nature of French museums which reassures their Chinese interlocutors who, in the vast majority, are private, with the notable exception of the Power Station of Art (PSA), installed in Shanghai in a former power station. like the Tate Modern in London, and the only public museum of contemporary art in China. Private, here, does not mean that the central State, in one way or another (often through the economic weapon) does not have the right to review and censor the themes and contents of the exhibitions. .
Power Station of Art in Shanghai.
No risk of censorship with the exhibition “Paris, chic, modern Shanghai” at Bund 33 (Shanghai), the former British consular residence, a colonial building surrounded by lush gardens in the very center of the megalopolis. The exhibition was co-produced by Mobilier national, which lent 200 pieces, and the Hanan Culture communications group, manager of the venue, patron of the Galliera Museum in Paris and service provider for the LVMH group or the Richemont group for the production of promotional videos . The Rodin Art Center (private), launched by the Chinese collector Wu Jing, took over the French pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo for ten years. The collector obtained a drawing right for 20 million euros with the Rodin Museum in Paris, and plans to open another center in Tianjin (in the north-east) then, on the same model, a Bourdelle Center, in connection with the eponymous museum in Paris. The Pudong Art Museum (MAP) in Shanghai, in a setting on the river created by Jean Nouvel, is preparing two exhibitions, from 2025, with the Musée d’Orsay then with the Picasso Museum.
The Pompidou Center, in West Bund, also presents part of its permanent collection and a rather daring photographic exhibition, mixing house artists and Chinese artists, some of whom were previously sentenced to exile or prison. Artists “accepted, but not encouraged” by the Culture Office, according to the curator of the “Another Avant-garde” exhibition (until February 2025). “France is here! »proudly announces the French Institute of China which, it is true, has an enviable visibility at the West Bund Art and Design fair (see ill.), with an attractive French Café, a meeting point for visitors, and a marked presence in communication of the event.
However, the question arises of the effect of these French institutional cultural bridges on French artists. If France knows how to sell its artistic heritage, it is less successful in promoting its artists. The “Bon moment” exhibition at the Red Brick Art Museum (Beijing), with Tatiana Trouvé and Laure Prouvost, which was part of President Macron’s state visit in April 2023, is an exception. Perhaps French artists cultivate their relationships too much with museums deemed more welcoming and do not invest enough in the formidable market. This is what Olivier Hervet says of the HdM gallery, located in the 798 cultural district in Beijing: “French artists should give priority to commercial galleries rather than institutions, because in the long term, this harms their internationalization. » Notable exception : Bernar Venet benefits from a major retrospective of 180 works at the Phoenix Center in Beijing, an art center belonging to the Hong Kong television channel.
Culture, the Trojan horse of French luxury
However, it is luxury that offers France its strongest cultural visibility, by far. The Chinese market is essential for French luxury (30 to 40% of their market) and in periods of decline, as is the case this year, brands overinvest in cultural events, in a particularly uninhibited approach, like of the “Dior Lady Art” space, presenting Dior bags personalized by artists in a stylish scenography (€50,000 each), at the Art021 show. Attend a private party of the French luxury brand, champagne, dj set and influencers in the heart of an old palace offered by Stalin to Mao in 1955, did not lack salt!
French brands, in addition to the visibility of their names and products, such as the imposing Vuitton logo at the West Bund Art and Design fair, organize exhibitions, at the cost of financial support for Chinese public and private institutions. Sometimes this means removing all relevance from what is shown. The exhibition “Cartier, the power of magic” (jewelry, unrelated to the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art) finds its place in the new and immense Shanghai museum (public) which is preparing to accommodate 400 000 visitors, as much as that devoted to the creations of Gabrielle Chanel at the PSA (contemporary art, public museum), alongside recent installations, has no merit, except Chanel’s support for a museum which has , in the recent past, shown some French artists (Yves Klein, Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager or Niki de Saint Phalle). The – successful – exhibition of the arts and crafts of the Comité Colbert (luxury industry lobby) in Shanghai is emblematic of the influence of brands on culture.
Can France’s support for its artists and cultural institutions do without luxury brands? How can we support more than 400 events certified by the French Institute of China, with a cultural budget of the French representation abroad, which does not exceed 4 million euros, according to a figure given by Nicolas Pillerel, minister? -adviser for cultural affairs at the French embassy in Beijing? Jean-Pierre Raffarin, eternal VRP of France in China and unexpected guest at the inauguration of a ceramic fresco by Fabrice Hyber in a Shanghai metro station, in collaboration with the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, do not hesitate to affirm: “The Germans sell cars, we sell culture”. But ” We “who is it ?
