Bringing art closer home

There is something magnificent about the Louvre Museum in Paris. A former palace of the French kings, it was converted by Napoleon Bonaparte into an art gallery in 1793, shortly after the French Revolution. It has one of the finest collections in the world, and is particularly strong in Renaissance paintings. The much-acclaimed Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, hangs here.
But what has this to do with the art scene in Dubai? Well, for one, Neel Shukla, owner of The Four Seasons – Ramesh Gallery, at the BurJuman Centre, has just created a Louvre boutique at the gallery which is exhibiting replicas of objets d'art from the Louvre Museum. The exhibition, which began on November 8, will continue till November 15.
"The Louvre Museum has a touch of the ethereal, an out-of-world feel,'' says Neel, son of the celebrated photographer and painter, Ramesh Shukla. "When you are in the atrium of the Louvre in Paris, the feelings that you get are simply amazing. It is one of the most incredible structures in the world."
It was this love for the building and the art pieces which spurred him to do something for the Dubai art lover.
The exhibition was inaugurated by the French ambassador to the UAE, Jean Francois Thabault. BurJuman Centre will be providing the support. The opening of the Louvre boutique coincides with Bur Juman's music and art festival. The mall is a key supporter of the arts and recognises the need for a museum store in Dubai.
The boutique in Dubai showcases replicas of the original sculptures or artefacts from the Louvre Museum. The Louvre workshop, situated in Roissy, France, has 6,000 moulds of original sculptures. Some moulds date back over 200 years. New ones are produced once the older ones complete their life cycle. Most moulds are created for manufacturing replicas.
The concept for the event was born about three-and-a-half years ago. The idea was to bring something unique to Dubai. Neel himself visited Paris four times in this connection. "There are a lot of things to buy in Dubai – from fancy cars to perfumes to jewellery,'' says Neel. "But to buy something artistic and which has historical importance, one would have to go out of the country.'' So he considered bringing "the biggest museum of its kind to Dubai''.
A large portion of the 7,500-sq ft Four Seasons gallery has been earmarked for the Louvre boutique. About 1,000 objects are on display and the prices range from Dh50 to Dh20,000. A good number of items on display are Egyptian since the Louvre has the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts in the world. Besides, there are works of art from Iran, the Orient, Babylon, and Mesopotamia, plus a lot of motifs from 16th- and 17th-century Asia. There are also African artefacts and figurines from Roman mythology.
Interestingly, one of the master sculptors in the Paris workshop is Mohammad Bahramian, who produced the sculptures which were used to decorate the Fish Roundabout in Dubai in 1970. He also did some work for a few companies in the UAE. Bahramian was quite pleased to learn that the Louvre Museum would now be represented in the UAE and has agreed to visit the gallery in the near future, says Neel.
Most replicas are available either in plaster of Paris or in resin. The workshop maintains thousands of moulds. Approximately 50 replicas per mould are made of resin and 100 of plaster. After that, a fresh mould is created. Some of the more complex artefacts require reproductions from various moulds.
Over the last 20 years, says Neel, the Louvre Museum has been using resin for producing its replicas. "Originally, stone and plaster were used. However, the authorities at the Louvre discovered that resin was a more durable and functional material. Resin is more fragile, but it can withstand humidity and outdoor weather conditions.''