In partnership with the quai Branly – Jacques Chirac museum
Vibrant pink feathers, deep, darkish shapes, black filaments floating within the air: For hundreds of years, the plumage of birds of paradise has been the main target of human fascination, from New Guinea, the place they originate, all the best way to Europe, the place they had been perceived as nearly supernatural creatures.
With the exhibition Plumes of Paradise, the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac museum traces the lengthy and interesting journey of those birds, who fell sufferer to the commerce of their feathers and—via no fault of their very own—grew to become the catalyst for one of many first animal safety leagues and a feminist motion.
What’s a hen of paradise?
The birds of paradise comprise a household of 45 species discovered primarily in New Guinea. They’re characterised by vibrant plumage and unparalleled shows.
Birds on the Coronary heart of New Guinea’s Cosmologies
In lots of areas of New Guinea, bird-of-paradise feathers are utilized in ceremonies, dances, and communal gatherings. Mounted on spectacular headdresses or worn on the physique, they generally point out social standing, group membership, or the function performed throughout rituals. Sure ornaments, composed of dozens of rigorously assembled feathers, additionally mirror commerce networks between communities.
Braided plant fibers, shells, pigments, and feathers come collectively to kind ensembles through which every ingredient holds a selected which means. These adornments, crafted with the utmost care, seem as a lot as artistic endeavors as they do as objects linked to social and non secular life.
How Birds of Paradise Captivated Europe
The primary accounts from the good explorations
Beginning within the sixteenth century, the primary birds of paradise started to appear in Europe. Typically delivered to the continent with out their legs—which had been eliminated throughout preparation—birds of paradise had been on the heart of a stunning perception: that they had been animals that lived completely within the air and by no means touched the bottom.
Over time, each naturalists and artists have expanded their data of those animals. Scientific drawings, work, and illustrations have unfold their photos all through Europe, typically precisely, typically extremely embellished.
By previous engravings, travelogues, and taxidermied specimens, the exhibition traces this gradual discovery that captivated Europe. Specifically, it explores how these birds got here to be seen as symbols of exoticism and an idealized nature, straddling the road between scientific commentary and the creativeness of “paradise.”
A uncommon collector’s merchandise
Over the centuries, feathers and specimens discovered their means into cupboards of curiosities and later into European pure historical past collections. Birds of paradise grew to become extremely wanted, each for his or her rarity and their look.
Some show circumstances echo the aesthetic of earlier collections, the place taxidermied specimens, valuable objects, and scientific paperwork had been displayed aspect by aspect.
When feathers develop into a vogue development
Worn on hats, attire, or equipment, bird-of-paradise feathers grew to become, by the tip of the nineteenth century, symbols of magnificence and social distinction. Images, vogue illustrations, and interval items reveal the extent of this development in European capitals.
Behind this development lies a very profitable worldwide commerce. Birds are hunted in giant numbers to provide European and American markets, whereas feathers are shipped between colonies, buying and selling ports, and vogue workshops.
Paris: A Metropolis on the Coronary heart of the Feather Trade
With the fascination of the posh business, the leisure world, and high fashion for bird-of-paradise feathers, the feather was on the coronary heart of an financial system. In Paris alone, in the course of the first quarter of the twentieth century, there have been a whole lot of feather workshops, suppliers, milliners, department shops, vogue homes, taxidermists, facilities of studying, and leisure venues that supplied livelihoods for hundreds of individuals.
The Disappearance of Birds: The Hidden Facet of Magnificence
Steadily, the dwindling numbers of sure species are inflicting concern. Attitudes towards birds of paradise are altering, and the primary criticisms of the feather commerce are starting to emerge.
Within the early twentieth century, animal welfare organizations started to arrange, and the talk step by step entered the general public sphere. This marked the emergence of the primary animal welfare actions, in a context that also resonates with immediately’s environmental debates.
Girls such because the opera singer Lilli Lehmann, the ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey, and the Duchess of Portland, Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, performed a number one function in these actions. Whereas feathered hats dominated Belle Époque vogue, activists selected to boycott these equipment and publicly spoke out in opposition to hen looking.
An exhibition that addresses present social points
By linking colonial historical past, international commerce, and species extinction, this exhibition affords a broader and extremely related exploration of how societies rework, exploit, or defend dwelling organisms.
A hen that has develop into the image of New Guinea
The hen of paradise has develop into the nationwide emblem of New Guinea, to the purpose that it has appeared on the nation’s flag since 1971.
Even immediately, many artists draw inspiration from birds of paradise to create artistic endeavors and lift public consciousness in regards to the vulnerability of those birds and their habitats, that are vulnerable to disappearing.
The inclusion of quite a few modern views within the exhibition (pictures, drawings, avenue artwork, and so on.) thus locations the hen of paradise on the coronary heart of a dwelling historical past, far faraway from the static picture of an ethnographic museum.
An exhibition conceived as a visible journey
The exhibition creates an immersive environment. Within the darkness, the sounds of birds echo as a video displaying the courtship dances of birds of paradise welcomes guests. Lighting results spotlight the feathers, textures, and colours, whereas the completely different shades used on the partitions mirror adjustments in period and setting as guests transfer via the exhibition. The exhibition follows a chronological development that makes it straightforward to know how perceptions of birds of paradise have developed over time.
Transferring between these areas looks like touring via a number of completely different worlds: a rainforest, scientific collections, or vogue studios.
As guests transfer from show case to show case, the exhibition by no means limits itself to a single perspective: birds are offered as animals, non secular symbols, topics of scientific examine, and sources of inventive inspiration. This variety helps us perceive how their picture has circulated and developed over the centuries.
Feathers of Paradise finally tells the story of birds as a lot because it does that of people. Behind the colourful feathers and journey tales lie broader questions: the fascination with rarity, the need to gather, the exploitation of dwelling creatures, and the best way societies assemble their imaginations round nature.
Motion!
The Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac can also be presenting a movie sequence along side the exhibition:
Sensible info
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Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum
37 Quai Branly
75007 PARIS
Opening hours
By November 8, 2026
Tuesday via Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Mondays throughout faculty breaks (all areas) from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Late-night hours on Thursdays till 10:00 p.m.
Costs
Full value: €14
Diminished value: €11
Free for these below 26
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