Paris, France — It is one of the French capital’s most unusual museums, and one of its most beautiful as well. Le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (The Museum of the Hunt and Nature) was founded by François  and Jacqueline Sommer in 1967 in the picturesque Marais neighborhood of Paris. Today housed in two adjoining mansions, dating respectively from the 17th and 18th centuries, the museum’s permanent collection includes art works, ceramics, arms, trophies, objects and naturalised animals related to the hunt and nature. Animals are widely represented in the collections enabling visitors in the heart of Paris to understand animals in their environment and the relationship between mankind and animal kind.  

Temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists offer another insight into the world of man and animal with works juxtaposed among the permanent collections. Currently on display are some 200 drawings by the French artist Edi Dubien, many of which were produced exclusively for the show. Entitled S’éclairer sans fin translated as Light Up Endlessly, the exhibition brings together, in addition to the stunning drawings,  paintings, sculptures and installations all evoking themes linked to identity, childhood and fittingly the relationship between humans and nature. « I began by taking care of nature and I realized that by taking care of her (Mother Nature), I was taking care of myself, » commented Edi Dubien in an interiew. 

« Like Orpheus, Edi Dubien knows how to charm animals. It is this gift that he gives to each of the children he portrays. His works enable us to enter into the woods, » wrote Thomas Jolly, actor, director and artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2024  Paris Olympic Games,  in the preface to the exhibition’s catalogue.

There is the fox in platform shoes. The bird perched on a boy’s head, the owl flying out of a child’s chest. It all resembles a new take on the anthropomorphic. As if the humans merge with the hearts and souls of the animals in the pictures. The animals are portrayed with deep emotions. There is a placid turtle siting on a man’s head. « In the work of Edi Dubien, nature occupies an essential, symbolic place. The animals and the plants are metaphors of human emotions, they express inner states, » commented Rémy Provendier-Commenne, the art historian who curated the exhibition. These are deeply poetic and moving works from the self-taught artist who was born in 1963 and lives between Paris and his farm in the French countryside of the Loir-et-Cher region. The works blend in beautifully  with the authentic 17th and 18th century surroundings, furnishings and permanent collections of the Parisian institution that is the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature. The highly successful Edi Dubien exhibition has been prolonged until August 17th. And the museum is worth a visit in and of itself. Conferences, films, workshops for children and adults alike are all on the agenda. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette

62 rue des Archives 75003 Paris, France. Tel: + 33 (0) 1 53 01 92 40. https://www.chassenature.org/en