Societe des Amis du Musee Cernuschi

The Musée Cernuschi (Cernuschi Museum) is an Asian art museum, specializing in works from China, Japan, and Korea, Vietnam, located at 7 avenue Vélasquez, near Parc Monceau, in Paris, France. Its collection in Asian art is second only to the Musée Guimet in Paris. The Cernuschi Museum is one of the 21 City of Paris' Museums that have been incorporated since January 21, 2013 in the public institution Paris Musées. Founded by Henri Cernuschi, an Italian republican banker immigrant, the Cernuschi museum's rich history has collected more than 14 000 Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese art. By coordinating its resources and by taking advantage of its dynamic exhibitions, the museum has established itself as a privileged place to discover Far Eastern cultures, through the artistic exchanges which link China to Japan and Korea to Vietnam, while remaining a reference on Chinese art and archaeology. At a time when the contemporary Asian artistic scenes have become particularly active, the Cernuschi museum offers a creative and contemporary approach to its collections, nourished throughout the interaction of their cultural context. By relying on collections kept in storage, and by widening the acquisition policy to modern forms of expression, it has been possible to offer an itinerary retracing all the steps of the development of cultures, sometimes perceived as being conflicted between the heritage of a rich past and the present modernity. Henri Cernuschi's mansion is a space designed theatrically, in order to recreate the atmosphere of an Asian temple in contrast with the Haussmanian environment where it is located. Even though the museum has kept its capacity to fill its visitors with wonder, it guides them in their visit providing essential keys to the understanding of Asian arts. This mansion from the XIXth century is a museum space on a human scale, which enables the visitors to go through more than five thousand years of Asian art, in just two hours.