Versions of the following have appeared online regularly, since 1992, as a feature of the FYI France ejournal, ISSN 1071-5916, which is distributed for free via email every month except August. Ejournal subscriptions may be obtained via email request to: kessler@well.sf.ca.us

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A new Paris institution has taken up residence in the old BN premises, at the rue Richelieu -- for those of you who have been wondering, since the BN books left for Tolbiac -- and anyone interested in the history of art should take note:

The INHA / Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art -- "séminaires, colloques, conférences et exposition", "publications", "Département des Etudes et de la Recherche", "Un réseau pour l'histoire de l'art" --- plus, as the new occupant of the venerable Salle Labrouste, "La Bibliothèque" --

http://www.inha.fr/
http://www.fyifrance.com/fyi1pli3.htm#ParisINHA

• La Bibliothèque (tr. JK)

  • "a research library, it will be up to date with the latest techniques in use internationally, via a significant investment in information sources and networks of all types...

  • "a digital library, it will offer distance access to its principal digitized collections (manuscripts, rare and old books, prints, photographs)...

  • "the library will be installed, in the Salle Labrouste and nearby stacks, on a surface area of 9600 m² [103,334 ft² JK] There will be accommodation for 440 readers. Renovation work will proceed from 2003 through 2007, with a final opening scheduled for 2008...

  • "acquisitions committees have been formed, which include both librarians and researchers: for the initial arrangement of the collections, at first, but then also for reflections on the art and architecture of the 20th and 21st centures, for example, during 2002. In 2003 committees were created on electronic publishing, periodicals, sales catalogs... during the second half of the year on archeology, decorative arts, and the question of collecting theses... A plan to fill gaps, corresponding to periods in which the acquisitions of the participating libraries may have been impaired, has been established. It will permit the acquisition of around 30,000 documents within 5 years. 10,000 already have been acquired.

  • "The union catalog is being developed by the Ever Team company, using Loris software --

    http://catalogue.inha.fr/loris/jsp/system/win_main.jsp
    (click on "Rech. simple" etc. in the bar at the top. JK)

    -- initially the catalog contains 540,000 entries representing about 700,000 documents, primarily printed books. It will be enriched during 2004 with the retroconversion of sales catalog inventories representing nearly 200,000 documents, then with the catalog of 13,000 modern prints in the Jacques Doucet collections.

  • "Digitization. The protection and the quality of the collections, and the efficiency and completeness of the library's user services, in situ or at a distance, require that great importance be accorded to electronic documentation. In 2003 the following were undertaken:

    • digitization of the Répertoire d'art et d'archéologie, a bibliography essential to all art history researchers and eagerly anticipated by them (completion end-2004);

    • digitization of 2000 prints from the Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet (completion end-2004),

    • a program of digitization of manuscripts and catalogs of old museums, from the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux.

    -- other projects to be undertaken during 2004-6 include --

    • digitization of classics in the history of art, of livres de fête, of rare and ancient books and manuscripts of the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, of "cartons verts" (cartons d'invitation aux expositions), of particular photograph collections and particular manuscripts...

    • "enriching the patrimonial collections... the collection of sales catalogs is without any doubt the most significant such collection in the world, and the 160,000 photographs, the designs and prints, the manuscripts and ancient works, all are collections of great value.

    • "cooperation with the network of art libraries... cooperative undertakings to be developed are of many types: in documentation, in information techniques, digitization techniques, patrimony, conservation, resource sharing, etc... The Library is working with several foreign institutions: the Getty at Los Angeles, the Max Planck Institutes at Florence and Rome, etc. The Library is developing such cooperative undertakings at both the national and international level.

  • The collections:

    • la Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie Jacques Doucet (807,580 documents)
      
    • la Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux (252,160 documents)
      
    • la bibliothèque de l'Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (128,000 imprimés)
      
    • la bibliothèque de l'Ecole nationale des Chartes (149,000 documents)

      "Together the collections will represent an exceptional total of about 1,340,000 documents.

      "These collections and their attendant services will be offered in the historic Salle Labrouste of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and in four floors of the storage stacks nearby. A large portion of the collections -- about 275,000 documents -- will be available to readers in open stack access."

  • "Un réseau pour l'histoire de l'art"

    The INHA also sees itself as a member of an international / trans-national "art history network": (tr. JK) --

    "The INHA unites, at its Vivienne and Richelieu sites, 40 institutions -- specialized schools, educational groups, research and resource centers, libraries, reviews, learned societies -- and offers these to the national and international network of the history of art." Links to all of these and more are offered at,

    http://www.inha.fr/partenaires/index.html

   

• Département des Etudes et de la Recherche

  Programmes de recherche

  • Archives de l'art de la période contemporaine (XIXe-XXe siècles)
  • Histoire de l'archéologie. Techniques picturales et architecturales anciennes
  • Histoire de l'architecture
  • Histoire du cinéma
  • Histoire de l'histoire de l'art
  • Histoire du goût
  • Beaux-Arts / Musique / Théâtre

    GAAEL : Guide des Archives d'Artistes En Ligne -- le guide des fonds d'archives d'artistes, de collectionneurs et de galeries du XXe siècle est une base de données permettant de localiser des fonds ou des pièces d'archives conservés en France --

    http://www.inha.fr/gaael/recherche-fonds.php (collections)
    http://www.inha.fr/gaael/recherche.php (persons)
    http://www.inha.fr/gaael/recherche-etablissement.php (establishments)

   

• publications

  • Catalogues d'expositions
  • Collection "L'art et l'essai"
  • Actes de colloque
  • Collection "la galerie"
  • Dictionnaire des historiens de l'art
  • Collection "Italia e Francia. Studi di Storia dell'Arte"
  • Aide à la traduction d'ouvrages fondamentaux

  • bulletin: Nouvelles de l'INHA
    http://www.inha.fr/nouvelles/index.html

   

• séminaires, colloques, conférences et exposition

  [Lots going on:]

  • Conférences, Les origines des collections du Musée de Naples, par M. Andrea Milanese - les 13 et 27 mai, les 3 et 10 juin
    
  • Colloque international, Histoire de l'histoire de l'art en France au XIXe siècle - 2 au 5 juin
    
  • Colloque, Fernand Léger - Hier et aujourd'hui, la réception de son oeuvre et de son actualité - 11 et 12 juin
    
  • Conférence, Aesthetics and Globalization, par Mr. Keith MOXEY - 21 juin
    
  • Conférence, Stones of Solace, par Mme Michael Ann HOLLY - 22 juin
    
  • Conférence, Programme interdisciplinaire de recherche Art Architecture et Paysages - 30 juin
    
  • Symposium Art et publicité. Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft (Suisse). 2 au 3 juillet 2004
    
  • Colloque international Icone - Image - 8 au 10 juillet
    
  • Colloque, Ville, rêve et utopie - Ecole des beaux-arts, Toulouse - 8 et 9 octobre
    
  • ...

    http://www.inha.fr/recherches/seminaires.html

The History

The idea of a central repository, for the traditionally-scattered Paris resources in the fine arts and their history, has been current for a while: the following account is from the INHA website (tr. JK) --

"Regarding the INHA : the key dates"

"First conceived in 1973 by Jacques Thuillier, advisor to President Georges Pompidou, then formally proposed in 1983 by André Chastel, the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art was officially created on July 12, 2001.

1983

"In a report ordered by the government, André Chastel emphasized the absolute necessity of creating a French Institut d'histoire de l'art, unifying libraries, documents and archives, capable of receiving both researchers and students, and of developing the discipline and disseminating the results throughout France and beyond.

1990-1992

"The Benhamou and Encrevé Reports embraced the idea of locating the Institute at the Richelieu site, left vacant by the transfer to Tolbiac of the print collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and they defined the concept of the Institute: one encompassing functions of education, research, and documentation.

"The library of the Institute would unite existing collections: the Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie - Jacques Doucet, the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, and the Bibliothèque de l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts -- and to these would be joined the Bibliothèque de l'École nationale des chartes, as well.

1996

"The Laclotte Report laid out detailed conditions for the development of the project, insisting on the necessity of providing research tools and on the creation of collective and cooperative programs.

1999

"Creation of an association de préfiguration de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), presided over by Professor Alain Schnapp.

"In 2001, the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art was created by decree (Journal officiel du 14 juillet 2001), as an 'établissement public à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel'. It reports jointly to the ministries of 'l'enseignement supérieur, de la recherche' [Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie. JK] and of "culture' [Ministère de la Culture. JK]. Alain Schnapp was named 'directeur général" (decree of August 29, 2001)."

The institutional history of the INHA may be read online at their website: all of the "textes officiels", plus completion dates --

http://www.inha.fr/presentation/historique.html

Calendrier (tr. JK)

"The installation of the Institut national d'histoire de l'art will proceed in two major steps:

2003 -- Bâtiment Vivienne

"Installation, in the renovated building at 2 rue Vivienne (the "Galerie Colbert), of the office of doctoral programs, the center for cooperative research, and the reviews and learned societies, as well as the administrative and scientific services of the INHA.

By the project's end -- Bâtiment Richelieu

"Opening of the Bibliothèque de l'INHA after the renovation of the Salle Labrouste and those of its storage areas which will accommodate the three art libraries: the Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie - Jacques Doucet, the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, and the Bibliothèque de l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts.

"The École Nationale des Chartes and its library will be installed nearby, in the buildings extending along the rue de Richelieu and the rue de Petits-Champs. This second phase also will involve the relocation of the départements spécialisés of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France."

And the director of the département de la Bibliothèque et de la Documentation de l'INHA, Martine Poulain, has written a fine presentation of the project, and of the library's role in it:

"Une grande bibliothèque d'art en préparation : La bibliothèque de l'INHA",
in Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, 2004, t. 49, n. 3, pp. 67-78.

http://bbf.enssib.fr/default.asp
http://bbf.enssib.fr/bbf/html/2004_49_3/2004-3-p67-poulain.xml.asp

FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal                   ISSN 1071-5916

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