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43 | 2016
L'habillage des choses de l'art

Des marchés aux collections en Himalaya et au-delà
The packaging of art things: from markets to collections in Himalaya and beyond

From objects offered to tourists in the markets of Kathmandu or Ladkh to objects holding pride of place in collections of Asian or primitive art: what makes an “art object”? The contributions in this collection show the weight carried by the narratives that package “art things”, and their close links to processes of commercial and aesthetic value enhancement. They lead us to both ends of the journey that has transported masks, headdresses, Buddhas and mandalas to the West from Himalaya and the outskirts of China: to sites of exchange (local markets and workshops, or online shops) and into museums and exhibitions, in Asia and the West. Connecting economic biography with ethnographies of art displays, this collection decodes the schemes at work in the narratives that package these objects: promotion of a timeless past, authenticity, and the sanctification of a transcendent landscape.

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