Jouveau Dubreuil and C.T. Loo: French Acquisition of Early Indian Sculpture in the Early 20th Century

In 1926, Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, a professor of sciences at the Collège Français in Pondicherry, the largest French colony in India, excavated several unprotected archaeological sites in coastal Andhra (S.E. India) and found a good number of early Buddhist sculptures. The mission was accomplished with the financial support of C.T. Loo, an eminent dealer of oriental art in Paris. Jouveau-Dubreuil and Loo sold or gifted the excavated sculptures to major museums in Europe and the US, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. This presentation intends to shed some lights on the acquisition history of this remarkable but little studied group of sculptures. It also discusses how we may understand this “archaeological” mission in the development of French studies of ancient India in the early 20^th century.

Thursday, November 17th – Crispell Basement Lounge – 7:00PM
(Refreshments will be served)