The Solomon Islands are an archipelago in the South Pacific named by the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana y Neira, who landed on the islands in 1568, believing that he had discovered Ophir, the cradle of the wealth of the famous King of Israel, Solomon. Although the islands proved not to contain any such treasures, they inherited his name.

The exhibition L’Éclat des ombres [The Radiance of Shadows Art in black and white from the Solomon Islands] offers visitors the opportunity to discover an assemblage of 200 exceptional items gathered together for this exhibition, some of which have not previously been presented in France. War canoe figureheads, reliquaries, feather coins and a wide variety of weapons are displayed in the exhibition. The visual characteristics of the items exhibited are emphasised, underlining the subtle play of contrasts between their brilliant and dark aspects, which are particularly significant for the various different cultures of the archipelago.

Historical photographs from the musée du quai Branly's collections will supplement the selection of works, illustrating the impact of encounters between western travellers and archipelago inhabitants. Several European museums – the University of Aberdeen's Marischal Museum, the Museum der Kulturen in Basle and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge – have generously loaned important items from their collections, some of which have never travelled since they were collected. In addition, French museums such as the Museum of Aquitaine in Bordeaux, the Châteaumusée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, the musée de Libourne, the Museum d’histoire naturelle de Rouen, the Musée de Minéralogie de l’École des mines and the Musée national de la marine in Paris have agreed to lend us unique items. I would like to extend my sincere acknowledgements to these institutions.

I would also like to warmly thank Magali Mélandri, Head of the Oceania collections at the musée du quai Branly, and Sandra Revolon, ethnologist at CREDO-EHESS, respectively curator and scientific advisor to this wonderful exhibition. I would like to express my gratitude for the very high quality of their scientific work. The exhibition catalogue that they have edited contains contributions by the greatest specialists on the archipelago, thus offering us a reference work on the Solomon Islands. My most profound thanks are addressed to them.

Finally, I am very happy for this exhibition to be presented at the musée du quai Branly, where it will offer visitors the opportunity to discover the wealth and diversity of this archipelago, but also the great beauty of the items originating in the Solomon Islands.

Stéphane Martin
Président of the musée du quai Branly