Émile Étienne Guimet (2 June 183612 August 1918) was a French industrialist, traveler and

connoisseur A connoisseur ( French traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator ...

. He was born at

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and succeeded his father

Jean-Baptiste Guimet Jean-Baptiste Guimet (20 July 17958 April 1871), French industrial chemist, and inventor of synthetic colors, was born at Voiron, Isère. He studied at the École Polytechnique in Paris, and in 1817 entered the Administration des Poudres et Sa ...

in the direction of his " artificial ultramarine" factory. He also founded the

Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...

, which was first located at Lyon in 1879 and was handed over to the state and transferred to Paris in 1885. In Lyon he also established a library and a school for Oriental languages. Guimet aimed at spreading knowledge of Oriental civilizations, and facilitating religious studies, through sacred images and religious objects. Devoted to travel, he was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Japanese and Chinese

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

and many objects relating not merely to the religions of the East but also to those of Ancient Egypt,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1945

Georges Salles Georges Salles (24 September 1889 – 20 October 1966) was a 20th-century French art historian and curator. Biography A specialist of the East, George Salles led excavations in Iran, Afghanistan, and China. He was then curator at the Asia ...

, director of the Museums of France, redistributed the collections of national museum. The great collections of Asian arts of the Louvre Museum were transferred to the Musee Guimet. As a result, the Guimet became one of the greatest museums of Asian art in the world. It provides the most comprehensive panorama of Asian arts under one umbrella.

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by ...

was his long-time mistress. In 1880 he started publishing ''Annales du Musee Guimet'', in which original articles appear on Oriental Religions. He wrote ''Lettres sur l'Algerie'' (1877) and ''Promenades japonaises'' (1880), and also some musical compositions, including a

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

, ''Tai-Tsoung'' (1894) The Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature was created in his honour in 2017.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guimet 1836 births 1918 deaths Businesspeople from Lyon