UK artist Damien Hirst is working with the Museum Deyrolle in Paris, an institution that has partnered with a number of artists over the course of its one hundred eighty-three year history, in auctioning objects from his Le Cabinet de Curiosités “Signification (Hope, Immortality and Death in Paris, Now and Then).” Fifty objects from the cabinet are for sale with the proceeds going towards Hirst’s charity, Victim, and the museum’s natural history education and conservation programs. The sale is online through October 25th and is being facilitated by the online auction site, Paddle8.com.
The Museum Deyrolle has maintained its identity as a manufacturer of cabinets of curiosity, a natural history museum, and a provider of taxidermy. In an age when natural history museums are rebranding themselves as museums of science and nature, it provides a link to the history of the nature museum.
Deyrolle was severely damaged in a 2008 fire and approximately 90% destroyed. The current establishment is itself a reconstruction and, while it asserts that no animals in its collection were killed to be taxidermied and that it abides by the regulations of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), it is a commercial venture that makes money from artfully arranging the remains of dead animals. The use of animals for “authenticity” is a topic that I hope to explore in a future post.
Art and Natural History 