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Exoticism as taste

The word "exoticism" refers to something that is foreign to us, but also the attraction of strangeness and an imaginary elsewhere. So, for museum goers, the objects that the explorers brought back were charged with dreams of adventure.

Our Other's objects

The long history of incorporating the Other into our culture can be read in the craftwork commissioned in the Far East. China, bronze and lacquer furniture adapted to European expectations have decorated our interiors since the 17th century. This taste was flourishing when the Ariana Museum was created in Geneva in 1884.

Bibliograpy

• Savary, Claude. 1973. Une redécouverte: le jeu africain des douze cases in Musées de Genève, n°134 avril 1973, 17-23