The Louvre School is launching its “École du Louvre 2021” project, which benefits from the patronage of the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation. A renovation program which aims to make the School a national and international essential in higher education, notably with the creation of a research center.
At a time when reflection on higher education is intensifying, questioning the place of schools in the face of the university tradition and the changes brought about by digital technologies, the École du Louvre announces the launch of its “École du Louvre-2021 ”. On June 8, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester, the director of the Louvre School Claire Barbillon and Majid Boustany, founder and president of the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, approved the work program: the renovation of the library, the creation of a research center and the reorganization of documentary, IT and cafeteria services. This vast program, the cost of which amounts to 2 million euros, will be carried out thanks to the patronage of the president of the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation. The work has been entrusted to the agency Hart Berteloot Architects , which notably carried out the covered market of Saint-Lô.
Partner of the École du Louvre since 2016, notably with the creation of a four-year research grant aimed at supporting the work of a doctoral student on the painter Francis Bacon, Majid Boustany wanted to bring his stone to the building for personal reasons: “my decision to finance this ambitious program also stems from my passion for the most Francophile of English painters: Francis Bacon. He was a regular visitor to Parisian museums and in particular to the Louvre, some of whose works were also sources of inspiration for his own paintings.”.
Adapting the library to the practices of tomorrow
The Louvre School library has been installed in the Flore wing of the Palais since 1972. Renovated for the first time in 1997 during the works of the Grand Louvre, this “ fundamental place in the life of a student of the School ”Will be given a new look, explains Claire Barbillon. That which constitutes a multi-support fund to support teaching in art history, archeology and museology “must be rethought as a complex of contemporary study and research at the heart of the School and its pedagogy.”The work will aim to optimize the spaces of the library and update the documentary policy in order to“to offer multimedia consultation spaces, free access to books, dedicated digital research tools, the possibility of working with others, of seclusion … all in ergonomic, aesthetic and eco-responsible spaces ”.
A dynamic research center
As a higher education institution of the Ministry of Culture, the École du Louvre participates in scientific research. “Philippe Durey [his predecessor, Editor’s note] has created a research team which has developed by leading projects but also supporting doctoral students, through methodological workshops, topical seminars, individual monitoring ”Specifies the Director of the School, in the fields of art history, the history of civilizations, archeology, anthropology and museology. The creation of a research center “ will give additional momentum to the project ”And coordinate national and international research work, in addition to providing visibility to the research carried out at the École du Louvre.
Documentary and IT services will be reorganized, with an overall reorganization to improve staff working conditions. The cafeteria will be renovated and reconfigured into a “third place” of conviviality and exchange.
