DRAGONS
Musée du quai Branly -Jacques Chirac
For this latest interview for Printemps Asiatique Paris, we meet Julien Rousseau, associate curator of the exhibition and curator of the Asian collections at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. He previously curated the exhibitions Ultimate combat. Asian Martial Arts (2021) et Ghosts and Hells -The underworld in Asian art (2018)
He reflects on the genesis of this ambitious project devoted to one of the most fascinating figures in the shared imagination on both sides of Eurasia.
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View of the exhibition “Dragons” © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Thibaut Chapotot
FOREWORD
Presented at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, the exhibition Dragons explores nearly 5,000 years of history, myths, and representations of this major creature of Chinese civilization, from Neolithic cultures to the most contemporary artistic expressions.
Archaic jades and bronzes with enigmatic forms, Song dynasty paintings of remarkable subtlety, sumptuous blue-and-white ceramics of dazzling technical virtuosity: the exhibition reveals the diversity of media and the striking beauty of the works through which the dragon gradually took shape over the centuries.
The result of a prestigious collaboration with the National Palace Museum in Taipei, whose collections rank among the most important in the world for Chinese art, this exhibition offers European audiences unprecedented access to major works rarely, if ever, shown outside Taipei.
Could you tell us how the collaboration with the National Palace Museum in Taipei began?
The exhibition Dragons is part of an exhibition exchange with the National Palace Museum in Taipei (NPM).
In 2019, the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac presented the exhibition Masks: The Beauty of Spirits at the NPM, and is now hosting Dragons in return.
The NPM originally conceived the theme and proposed works from its collection, which formed the basis for the development of the exhibition’s narrative and layout. While the dragon might be considered a familiar motif in the arts of East Asia, it had not, in France, previously been the subject of a monographic exhibition entirely dedicated to its history and iconography.
The project is based on close collaboration with the curators on the Taipei side — Yu Pei-chin, Wu Hsiao-yun and Chiu Shih-hua — as well as with Adrien Bossard, Curator and Director of the Musée des Arts Asiatiques in Nice, who served as scientific advisor. How was this collective work organised, and in what ways did these complementary perspectives enrich the exhibition’s narrative?
The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue were co-produced by the two museums. We benefited from the scholarly guidance of Adrien Bossard — Director of the Musée des Arts Asiatiques in Nice and a sinologist — who supported us throughout the project in developing the content in close dialogue with the curators of the NPM.
The exhibition seeks to combine scholarly synthesis with an approach accessible to a broader public. Owing to its long historical continuity and its multiple layers of meaning, the dragon is both a complex subject and a compelling point of entry into the history of Chinese art. As it occupies a central place in cosmology and possesses a highly graphic quality, the motif has been repeated across a wide range of media, from imperial and literati arts to popular traditions.
Celestial sphere–shaped vase with dragon and lotus decoration
Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Yongle reign (1403–1424)
© Musée national du Palais, Taipei
Alongside the exceptional loans from Taipei, the exhibition creates a dialogue between imperial collections, ritual objects, and more contemporary expressions, notably including works from the Quai Branly collections and other French institutions.
The exhibition has been conceived as a dialogue between the collections of the two museums, complemented by significant loans from the Musée Guimet, the Musée des Arts Asiatiques in Nice, and the Musée Cernuschi. The historic holdings of the NPM, together with the MQB–JC’s collections of popular art, trace a concise history of the dragon, from the enigmatic “proto-dragons” of the Neolithic period to contemporary iconographies.
Since the Qin dynasty, rulers invested with the Mandate of Heaven have sought to appropriate the figure of the dragon; yet the creature both predates and outlasts the emperors. Before becoming a political emblem, the dragon was a cosmological and vital being. It was only in 1111 that an imperial edict reserved the yellow five-clawed dragon exclusively for the emperor and official art. This did not prevent other forms of the dragon from evolving through popular narratives and imagery, continuing to the present day.
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© musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Thibaut Chapotot
In Asia, the dragon is profoundly different from its Western counterpart, often associated with chaos or evil. How does the exhibition help deconstruct these opposing imaginaries?
“Dragon” is the closest term available to designate the creature known in Chinese as long, yet the two entities have little in common. Their association is purely formal, based on their hybrid appearance. The comparison is all the more complex given that, in Europe, the term refers to a wide range of figures — from the serpent-like monsters of Greco-Roman antiquity to the malevolent fire-breathing creatures that, in the Middle Ages, were associated with evil and pagan beliefs.
The Chinese dragon is likewise polymorphous and invested with multiple layers of meaning. As early as the Han dynasty, texts describe its connection to the celestial breaths, to clouds, and to the life-giving function of rain. It embodies both the primordial and universal energy known as qi, and, since antiquity, the eastern constellation that appears in spring to regenerate nature. It is also one of the signs of the zodiac cycle, which continues to exert a significant influence on human destinies in China.
Dragons also appear in Taoist and Buddhist iconography, while popular beliefs have elevated them to the status of local deities associated with specific places or natural elements.
Infinity-cycle box containing figurines of the Twelve Zodiac Animals and an album of calligraphy by Yongyan (the Jiaqing Emperor, r. 1796–1820)
© National Palace Museum, Taipei
The exhibition spans a very long period. How did you construct the narrative?
It would of course be unrealistic to attempt an exhaustive survey spanning from the Neolithic period to the present day, without searching completeness. Any exhibition is necessarily a constructed narrative, shaped by the works brought together and by the space in which they are displayed. Within this framework, it was important for the dragon to function as a guiding thread, both structuring the visitor’s journey and offering an accessible introduction to Chinese art and its profound relationship with cosmology, particularly for non-specialist audiences.
Are there key works that encapsulate the spirit of the exhibition?
Yes, the exhibition has benefited from exceptional loans. The jade known as the “pig-dragon” from the Hongshan culture is the first work encountered in the exhibition. We found it compelling to open the parcours with a small object whose meaning and context remain partly unknown. It might evoke a worm or a creature in gestation, suggesting the polymorphous nature of the dragon — at once as small as a silkworm and as vast as a rainbow.
Another highlight is the box depicting the twelve signs of the zodiac, one of Emperor Qianlong’s favourite objects, an image of the heavens and of cyclical time. One might also mention the spectacular dance dragon on loan from the Paris Lion Sport association, which concludes the exhibition.
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Pig-Dragon China, Late Hongshan culture (4700–2900 BCE) Jade
© National Palace Museum, Taipei
How did you approach the scenography?
Monographic subjects can sometimes become repetitive, so we sought to situate the dragon in relation to other ancient hybrid iconographies, such as the taotie or tomb guardians, and to present it through its various connections to cosmology — for example, among the signs of the zodiac or within the constellations.
The exhibition also explores the ways in which the dragon’s presence can be aniconic. According to geomancy, mountains are channels through which vital energy circulates, known as the “dragon’s veins.” These play an important role in urban planning, architecture and in artistic representations of the landscape.
How are the dragon’s many faces articulated ?
The dragon is a polymorphous and polysemous creature. Its multiple forms and meanings coexist, yet for pedagogical purposes the exhibition necessarily distinguishes between them.
The parcours begins with the formation of the dragon’s image in antiquity, before exploring its transformations, the nine sons of the dragon, and the creature’s capacity to assume the role of guardian or attendant to the Luohan and the immortals. The dragon as an imperial symbol is addressed in a dedicated section of the exhibition.
GU Quan, Immortals, after Ruan Gao
China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong period (1735–1796), 1772
Ink and colours on paper
© National Palace Museum, Taipei
What perspective do you hope visitors will gain?
This exhibition does not claim to offer a radically new perspective. Rather, we hope it provides insight into the depth of the relationship between Chinese art and nature.
Above all, the dragon expresses a vision of the heavens and of the natural elements in their vital dimension. It embodies a cosmology founded upon the triad of Heaven, Earth and Humanity, in which unity and a profound interdependence between human beings and their environment are central.
Taoist officiant’s crown, Vietnam, Yao culture
Early 20th century, painted cardboard and cotton
© Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, photo Pauline Guyon
Finally, what does the exhibition reveal about the permanence of myth today?
The video work Chasing Clouds by Yang Yongliang, which opens the exhibition, raises precisely this question. In it, dragons appear and disappear among the clouds within a composition inspired by classical monochrome painting. One might read in it the mystery of the creature’s origins, or alternatively a grey, suffocating sky burdened by urban pollution.
Human beings remain subject to the vital power of the heavens; yet today the dragons seem to preside over elements that have become destabilised and endangered by human intervention.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Practical information
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Around the exhibition Dragons
→ Event details - musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac