Mulhouse reveals its unpublished treasures

Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin). Nearly 250 pieces on display, drawn from the reserves of twelve city institutions. To honor the Mulhouse heritage, the Museum of Fine Arts wanted to see things big. “” The idea was to reveal pieces that are usually not presented, also engaging in research and catering work on our collections ”Pointe Isabelle Dubois-Brinkmann, the director of the municipal museums, who assures the police station with Michaël Guggenbühl, chief curator of the libraries, and Éliane Michelon, director of the archives. Objects from the historical museum, instruments from the electropolis museum, pieces in the city of the train or the printing museum on fabrics thus enrich the course, which began in the 13th century with the construction of the city ramparts.

If the qualifier of “nugget” is sometimes exaggerated, the quality of the works presented remaining quite uneven, the selection is nonetheless interesting. Diversity is there: graphic art, textiles, everyday objects, manuscripts, archive documents, wallpapers … Several pieces stand out from the lot like a delicate silver unicorn, forged in the 16th century, which turns out to be a precious drinking cut (see ill.). Another curiosity: an astonishing reliquary snorkeling, appraised for the occasion, which contains hairs of the Mustache of King Henri IV taken during the exhumation of his body in 1793. Further on, drawings of Mucha alfons, Théophile Schuler, Rosa Bonheur testify to the extent of the collections of the municipal library.

But what makes the strength of the exhibition also makes its weakness. To want to bring together the widest possible range, the route ends up lacking consistency. The chronological journey brings a guiding thread but is not enough to properly structure the exhibition, which struggles to find its angle. While certain sections are concentrated exclusively on Mulhouse, by retracing its history since medieval times and in particular its rich industrial heritage, others are moving away from the local subject to present works of big names which, at a given moment, have integrated the city’s collections. All without a dialogue between these pieces can really be established. Thus, in the same room, a hiding pattern shawl (produced by a city factory) rubs shoulders with both a collection of commercial vignettes as a sketch of Géricault. The readability of the route is also compromised by cartels, not very readable because they are far too detailed, and a scenography itself loaded. The choice to exhibit the works in large wooden cases further increases the route. But if its density desserts it, there is no shortage of its primary objective: to shed light on the richness of the Mulhouse collections.