Henri Loyrette (born 31 May 1952 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris) was the chairman of Admical, a French organisation dedicated to corporate philanthropy,[1] and the former director of the Louvre Museum (2001–2013).[2] He became first curator and then director of the Musée d'Orsay in 1978 and 1994, respectively.
Career
"Ahae" etched in stone at the Louvre in Paris, as one of its patrons.[3][4][5]
Loyrette was named curator of the Musée d'Orsay in 1978. His focus on 19th century architecture and painting resulted in several important exhibitions, including the 1987–88 exhibition “Chicago, Birth of a Metropolis,” developed by the then-director of the Art Institute of Chicago, John Zukowsky.[6]
In 1997, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which awards prizes for artistic merit in nine areas. Loyrette was listed under Section VI - Unattached Members, in the organization's Perspective on the Academie, Number 91, from 2020.[1]
Loyrette's appointment to the directorship of the Louvre Museum was announced on 28 March 2001. According to Resnicow Shroeder Associates, previously Loyrette had "served as Director of the Musée d'Orsay from 1994 to 2001, and curator at the Musée d'Orsay from 1978 to 1999".[7]
Loyrette's contract was extended for another three years (through 2013), during which he was to oversee construction of an expansion in Paris, as well as a new branch in Abu Dhabi.
In 2012, Loyrette endorsed an exhibition with photographs by Ahae, the South Korean businessman Yoo Byung-eun, praising his artistic qualities.[8][9][10] Following the sinking of the ferry Sewol, Hervé Barbaret, Loyrette's deputy, disclosed to L'Express in 2014 that "The Louvre did not pay a penny to organize this event. The artist paid the production entirely and paid a little more than €500,000 (~US$700.000) to exhibit himself in the Tuileries".[11] Yoo further donated €1.1 million (~US$1.5 million) to The Louvre.[12][13][14] Loyrette's decision to rent out the Tuileries Garden, administratively attached to The Louvre, prompted French media as well as Korean expatriates in France to raise their concerns over French cultural institutions accepting self-financed exhibitions in return for donations.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
Literary works
Loyrette is also an author, with a total of nineteen books on various subjects, including Degas, Gustave Eiffel, and Marcel Proust. One of his most popular works is his book Nineteenth Century French Art (pictured).
Books
Nineteenth Century French Art
Gustave Eiffel, Fribourg, Office du Livre, 1985
Degas : « Je voudrais être illustre et inconnu », coll. « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 36), série Arts. Paris, Gallimard, 1988
Trad. into English – Degas: The Man and His Art, "Abrams Discoveries" series, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1993
^La Communauté alternative des Coréens à Paris [The community of Koreans living in Paris] (12 June 2014). "공개편지 – 프랑스 문화부장관, 전 루브르박물관 관장, 베르사이유궁 대표에게" [Open letter [to] The French Culture Minister, former director of The Louvre, Versailles Palace representative] (in French and Korean). Pariscopain.fr. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
^Humanities. National Endowment for the Humanities. 1988.
^Hasquenoph, Bernard (29 August 2013). "Ahae à Versailles, le privilège de l'argent" [Ahae at Versailles – the privilege of money] (in French). louvrepourtous.fr. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
^"Rapport d'Activité du Fonds de Dotation du Louvre pour 2012" [Activity Report of the Endowment Fund of the Louvre 2012] (PDF) (in French). The Louvre. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014. Mécène: Un entrepreneur et artiste coréen AHAE; Montant: 1.1 million d'euros; Affectation: Sans affectation particulière [Patron: A Korean entrepreneur and artist AHAE; Amount: 1.1 million euros; Assignment: No specific allocation]
^"AHAE. De ma fenêtre" [AHAE. Through My Window] (PDF) (in French). AHAE.com. Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
^Sage, Adam (14 June 2014). "How missing Korean ferry boss fooled the French elite". The Times. Retrieved 16 June 2014. Now Bernard Hasquenoph, the editor of Louvre Pour Tous, a website dedicated to the Louvre, has revealed that Ahae donated €1.1 million (£877,000) to the museum at the time of his exhibition. He then gave €5 million to Versailles. "He turns up with his money and he pays prestigious places to exhibit his work and buys recognition," Mr Hasquenoph said.
^"Oui à l'artiste Lee Ufan, non à l'affairiste Ahae" [Yes to the artist Lee Ufan, not the wheeler Ahae]. Association d'amitié franco-coréenne (in French). Amitiefrancecoree.org. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
