Anne-Hélène Rigogne Senior curator, adjointe au chef du service des expositions, Bibliothèque nationale de France EXHIBITING THE BOOK

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1 Anne-Hélène Rigogne Senior curator, adjointe au chef du service des expositions, Bibliothèque nationale de France ICAM 15, Paris, session 4 2nd of June 2010 EXHIBITING THE BOOK I am going to rely on my experience at the BnF s Exhibitions Department to talk about exhibiting the book. I hope our specific questions will find an echo among those of you in charge of architecture museums and libraries or archive collections connected to architecture. Indeed, exhibiting books is one of our daily challenges. A book is meant to be read. Should it be an exhibition object? How can we make it becoming more than a simple object and making sense? How can we use it to add meaning to an exhibition? BnF has a long tradition in organizing exhibitions. As early as 1870, an overview of book history was presented in the Mazarine Gallery. In 1937, during the World Fair, Julien Cain, Administrator general of the Nationale, set up a literature museum in collaboration with Paul Valéry. But let us return to the present. The two major missions of BnF are to preserve the national written heritage collections and make them available, whether in the reading rooms or via the digital library. Another important mission consists of making them available to the greatest number of people. As a result, ambitious cultural policy projects have been developed since 1996, with the opening of the François-Mitterrand new site for the Library. In the Exhibition Department, we organize about 15 exhibitions each year. Most of the time, small-scale to large-scale exhibitions are presented at the Richelieu historic site you certainly know of the prestigious Labrouste reading room and at the François-Mitterrand Library designed by Dominique Perrault. We organize different types of exhibitions. We organise exhibitions centred around a specific person, Victor Hugo or Artaud for instance, or connected to our collections of prints (from Daumier to Soulages) or photographs (from Atget to Cartier-Bresson). Our program also includes exhibitions connected to the material aspect of documents: exhibitions of book lovers collections such as Fontainebleau bindings or Rare books in which we presented treasures from the Reserve. Certain exhibitions are connected to a specific collection such as The Library s case: Eros under secret I will come back to that in a moment or Armenian Books. Finally, we propose subject-specific exhibitions such as Brouillons d écrivains (Writers rough copies), that focused on the critical study of texts, or exhibitions connected to historical or social issues such as Enligthments, an heritage for tomorrow which dealt with the consequences of this founding movement for contemporary society. I ve chosen to talk about books. However, you all know that BnF does not only hold printed books and manuscripts but also maps, photographs, prints, costumes, coins... It s quite a broad collection.

2 Anne-Hélène Rigogne ICAM 15, Is book an exhibit? During a seminar on the exhibition of written heritage collections, Hubert Bari, a colleague from the Natural History Museum, asked: Does the exhibition of books equal the imposition of boredom? It is true that a series of documents aligned in display cases might be quite boring for a non-specialist audience. However, in spite of appearances, books are not so easy to put on display. First of all, we must be very careful of the fragility of paper and observe strict preservation conditions concerning light and temperature especially. The necessity to present documents in display cases generates frustrations: the book is visible but not accessible. It is simpler to put on display a work of art or a model that can be viewed without compromise. Reading is also an activity which is very private. This almost secret activity contrasts with the exhibition tour which is a public act, quite at the opposite. However, books can still tell us things when they are on display. They bear witness to time periods. They take us back in time. Let us mention the 17 th -century miniature books created to escape censorship, also known as clandestine books, the 19 th -century yellowed paper, or the aesthetic of covers. Layouts and typography choices of course reflect a period, or a particular moment. The futuristic documents presented in the exhibition Utopy conveyed quite well the enthusiastic spirit of this movement at work. Here in the muse des Monuments français, when we discover in the gallery devoted to contemporary architecture that the cover of Gustave Eiffel s book about the construction of his tower was entitled The 300 Meter High Tower, this does mean something. Even though some books were originally very private object, they can today teach us a great deal about the writers condition. Above all, like archives and manuscripts, books in their original shape, have a very important emotional power. They reflect man s desire to put his mark on his time. For instance, an exhibition makes it possible to see some proofs corrected by Verlaine and so to discover his thinking at work. An exhibition will allow to see the title of a Czech theatre play contained the word robots used for the first time. This play published in New York in 1923 was presented in the exhibition Utopy. Visitors analysing consecutive manuscripts can discover the poet s hesitation and the work in progress. For example, we have closely examined dozens of pages, eager to find the title of Paul Valéry s poem Le Cimetière marin. In case of monographs, it is also quite useful to display the books that were read and annotated by the author in parallel with the author s works. How should we put a book on display and make this object a subject? First of all, exhibition planning issues, including the spatial arrangement and the choice of items, must be clearly defined. Of course, the decision to organize an exhibition already reflects the purpose. Books may be either presented to highlight a specific issue or as a specific work of art. A book may be presented alone or as part of a publishing or library collection. This is currently a key issue as we have started to prepare an exhibition celebrating the centenary of the prestigious

3 Anne-Hélène Rigogne ICAM 15, publishing house Gallimard. We are confronted with a variety of difficult questions. Which works to put on display? How to organize the exhibition path? Which works to select from the catalogue? How to define the main topic of the exhibition so as to concentrate visitors attention? How to distil the secrets of the famous synopses including the editing by soon-to-befamous writers? One only book can be the center of an exhibition. For example, we presented in 2001 Al Idrisi s geography. The Arabic geographer lived at the court of the king of Sicily in the 12 th century. We aimed to show that this map, gathering many travel stories, reflected the exchanges between three sphere of the Mediterranean region. In the same way, Zola s manuscripts formed the centre of the exhibition Au Bonheur des dames. Around them, we presented a series of documents and graphic art frescoes that provided information about the birth of department stores. Presentation of documents is a major issue. First of all, as you all know, we must decide if a book will be presented open or closed. If open, it is essential to choose the right page! Books can be presented on a table display case to be examined from above, but also vertically, on a picture rail, and even framed. When we organized the exhibition about the French poet René Char, the scenographer even proposed us a book tree. Anyway, as you all know more than other professionals, scenography is a major issue. The scenography can add to the atmosphere of an exhibition. It does not only make the exhibition area an attractive place; it also contributes to helping us grasp the purpose of the exhibition. It transports visitors into the book s universe and to the writer s mental world. In the exhibition La Page, laser square patterns suspended on the ceiling conveyed the impression that we could enter the page. The scenography of The Legend of King Arthur allowed us to wander between textile walls; it was like strolling through the forest, a recurring element of Arthurian manuscripts. In the exhibition Victor Hugo, l homme océan, we chose to lay manuscripts and drawings flat, to convey the image of the great man working at his table. Scenographers often suggest enlarging items to make the immersion into the book s universe easier. In the exhibition Bestiaire médiéval, small components of illuminations had been enlarged to draw focus to the whole documents presented in display cases. In the exhibition Qûmran, les manuscrits de la mer morte, currently presented at the François-Mitterrand library, we have decided to enlarge fragments of manuscripts. A curtain reproduces the jigsaw made by researchers when they pieced the sacred texts together. In the exhibition Brouillons d écrivains, visitors were completely immersed in the scenographic arrangement as the pages, excessively enlarged, had been used to divide the exhibition area. We may also use sound recordings to enhance the book content and bring it to life. The evocative power of sounds is particularly important; in the exhibition Victor Hugo, we offered audioguides with a recording of Michael Lonsdale reading some of the handwritten pages on display. In the exhibition Livres de paroles: Torah, Bible, Coran, visitors could also listen together to sacred texts. I think that, in both cases, this was definitely a plus. A wide range of opportunities offered by digital technology now allow us to present more than simple written pages. At the end of the exhibition, we often set up small reading rooms where

4 Anne-Hélène Rigogne ICAM 15, visitors can quietly leaf through the pages of manuscripts thanks to don t worry! touch screens. These are our books to leaf through. Multimedia resources are very useful and enable us to offer images of texts whether handwritten or not as well as audiovisual elements. In the exhibition Brouillons d écrivains, we offered a digital file about Zola using his archives to compose his novels, thus providing useful information to understand the author s writing method. It is also essential to question a book s meaning in the light of the contemporary context. This is why we often include the point of view of researchers or writers who comment either about books on display or the exhibition s theme. I ve started to prepare an exhibition about The archives of the Bastille prison and we are going to meet a historian who will tell us how she uses archives in support of her research work. The audiovisual interview will be part of the exhibition. Finally, we also offer to visitors printed text extracts to take away. For example, in the exhibition La Page, we proposed in five places block-calendars presenting pages from different periods of time, with a text concerning the layout on the back. At the end of the exhibition, visitors could take away an annotated medieval manuscript excerpt or a 17 th -century title page. Finally, I am going to talk about the exhibition L Enfer de la Bibliothèque, for which we used some of the ideas I ve just mentioned. This exhibition focused on a specific collection with gathered together the printed books known as contrary to accepted standards, which was separated from the Royal Library s other collections in 1844 and called L Enfer (the Hell). The exhibition was divided into two sections: the history of the collection among the library s other collections and the content of this Enfer, namely an overview of erotic literature from the 17 th to the 20 th century, when L Enfer was closed. Nathalie Crinière, the scenographer, proposed us a very simple, neat and modern arrangement using pink, red and black colours. Documents from the library collection section were presented on tables arranged in ribbon form over which a net curtain had been suspended. Images of filled shelves on the curtain showed that this exhibition spoke of the Bibliothèque Nationale s universe. The different periods were marked by slight spatial separations. The challenge was not to lose the visitors attention on this one theme illustrated by a very large number of documents. We had namely 350 items including many small-size books, among which were priceless documents Sade s manuscripts or never-shown documents by Pierre Louÿs, for instance but also many less remarkable documents. The tone was definitely mischievous; we used playful devices. You can notice our display case had skirts! We also installed a spyhole in the entrance and mirrors above the display cases to awake voyeuristic impressions. Sometimes you needed to open a shutter to discover the content of certain display cases. Using a specific lighting device, visitors could discover pornographic pictures hidden in framed prints. Certain pages had been enlarged, as for instance one of them presenting an excerpt from an almanac containing the addresses and specialities of ladies of easy virtue in Paris, which covered an entire wall. We also used various sound devices. For example, a large felt ear allowed visitors to listen to the charming texts forbidden to the Nationale s readers before 1968.

5 Anne-Hélène Rigogne ICAM 15, As a result, the exhibition was a major success. Of course, it was an attractive topic. However, a survey revealed that visitors had spent 76 mn on average in the exhibition area and that they included 47% visitors of degree level (which is more than our usual audience s level). Apparently, they were mainly interested in the display of books whereas the exhibition also included photographs and prints. Before entering the exhibition, 54% of visitors had a vague idea of what the Enfer could be; after visiting it, 91% knew exactly what it was. To conclude, I would say that books are more than simple objects to exhibit. We need to trust in their evocative power. If we ve decided to exhibit them, we must go further than simply presenting them in display cases. If we ve decided to put them on display, it is because they have something to tell us that we must highlight and disclose to the audience. Undoubtedly, the exhibition of books will be even more relevant in the future with the development of e-books.