The Musée Dapper in Paris will close its doors next month, with officials citing high costs and low attendance as reasons for shutting the privately funded, non-profit museum of traditional and contemporary African art.
The institution moved to its current location in the 16th arrondissement in 2000. More than 50 exhibitions have been held in the space. The current show Masterpieces from Africa (until 17 June) includes ancient works from Cameroon and Mali. The museum, which has a €6 entrance fee, was founded by the late engineer Michael Leveau through his organisation, the Dapper Foundation.
The museum president Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau told the newspaper Le Figaro that there “are too many responsibilities, it’s difficult to manage”. The building will now be sold. In a statement, the museum says: “Attendance has not diversified and has stagnated.”
Falgayrettes-Leveau adds in a statement that the move “gives the Dapper Foundation more flexibility to realise other ambitious projects and invest in other spaces”. She declined to comment further.
The foundation recently organised two exhibitions in Senegal, including an open-air display on the island of Gorée of photographic works from Nyaba Léon Ouedraogo’s series The Phantoms of Congo River (until 28 May). A selection of Gabonese works from the collection will also go on show at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris in October.
