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French Star Wars Exhibit Exclusive Interview At ToyzMag.com!

Posted by Paul | October 01, 2012 at 09:42 AM ET

If you recall our Celebration VI coverage during the Hasbro presentation, they talked about an exclusive Star Wars/Kenner exhibit coming to France. Our French affiliates ToyzMag.com have interviewed some officials overseeing this exhibit and secured an exclusive interview with them! There is some great classic Kenner information in this interview! Click through to read the first two parts of the interview and special thanks goes out to Blaster E-11 for his translation!

Links to all of this information in French can be found HERE:

http://www.toyzmag.com/2012/10/album-de-lexpo-jouets-star-wars-au-musee-des-arts-decoratifs-exclusif/

interview n°1

http://www.toyzmag.com/2012/09/arnaud-grunberg-expo-jouets-star-wars-arts-deco-interview-exclusive-pour-toyzmag/

Arnaud Grunberg – Star Wars Toys Exhibition at le musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris –

exclusive interview for Toyzmag

- Hi Arnaud, your exhibition at the Musée des arts décoratifs (Paris) is about to begin in less than a month how do you feel ?

We're at the point where everything we've worked on for monthes is about to happen. Benjamin Fleurier and Patrice Girod and I are happy to see that everything is OK and that the exhibition should be a success.
- For how long have you been working on this exhibition exclusively made of objects from the SFA collections ?

I've been talking about it with Hasbro and the Museum for at least 3 years. Everything really happened in Fall 2011. LFL give us the greenlight and the team at SFA started to work on the content of the exhibition in january along with Dorothée charles, Cécilia Radot and the guys at the Museum. The H5 Group started working on the layout shortly after.

- Without saying too much, what can you share about the exhibition?

the museum's visitors make a varied crowd. We tried to make a exhibition that can be interesting for fans as well as for people who don't know anything about Star Wars (these guys exist. Honest.), die-khard collectors as well as mere fans, fans from the original trilogy as well as from the prequels, kids and adults alike... All of this while introducing a fair selection of items which illustrate the variety and graphic invention of the saga as well as the wide production of toys from the movies. We also wanted to explain the toy industry's conception and production processes. Once all these criteria had been met we still had to make some choices. We had quite alot of fun.

- Can we expect surprises ? Any you can share ?

The exhibition forms a whole, it's kind of a all new star wars collectible of its own. Let's count that as a surprise. Another surprise is that we are all about to look differently at the objects we collect. I didn't think it could be possible but after all this work my overall appreciation Kenner and Hasbro's toys and people behind them even improved. Let's not forget George Lucas' genius mind. The exhibition differs from the Tim Burton exhibition that happened recently in Paris and where hundreds of sketches from the director could be admired, but the result will be about the same. Whether you like his work or not, you can't help feeling that you're touching a very creative mind's own universe, that evertything would not exist if it weren't for him. What would our world look like without people like Burton and Lucas ?

But maybe you are more looking forsurprising items... We'll show more than fifty unique items, others are really rare and some are fairly easy to find but they were never shown this way. I guess the whole thing is likely to be a surprise. Maybe sometimes, some will be more surprised by our choices than by the items themselves ! That's why an exhibition can be considered as an original work.

- Which item in the exhibition is your favorite, and why ?

To be frank there are far too many items I like for many different reasons. I can not single one out.

- Will there be an exhibition catalog printed ?

A first edition will be released for the opening of the exhibition in early October. A second one is being discussed for December.

Propos recueillis par Antoine Bardet

Interview n°2

http://www.toyzmag.com/2012/09/les-jouets-star-wars-interview-de-dorothee-charles-la-commissaire-de-lexposition/

Dorothée Charles is the curator of the Toys Gallery at the Musée des Arts décoratifs (Paris).

ToyzMag – What's the story behind the Toys Gallery in Paris' Musée des arts décoratifs ?

Dorothée Charles - Toys are part of the museum's collections since it opened in 1905. In 1975 we created a Toys Department with an exhibition room and our collections have grown year after year (reaching now more than 15 000 toys and games from every period since the 17th century. After 10 years of being closed for major refurbishment, the museum reopend in 2006 with a Toys Gallery of which I've been in charge ever since. We organize 2 exhibitions per year.

ToyzMag - Why did you choose to propose an exhibition on Star Wars toys ?

Dorothée Charles - Star Wars has marked the history of toymaking since the release of the first movie. It has stronger ties with the toy and movie collectible industry than any other franchise even today. It interesting for several aspects : cultural, sociological and economic thanks to the toy industry that invested a lot in order to create innovating toys for the time without forgeting the art developed for the cards, the store displays…

ToyzMag – How did the museum worked with Science-Fiction Archives.com [Arnaud Grunberg's company, the owner of the collection] ?

Dorothée Charles - Arnaud Grunberg is one of the greatest Star Wars toy collectors in France. He created a company called ScienceFictionArchives.com in 2008. We have worked together following the saga's timeline, showing what was made by Kenner, the first toymaker who developped the licence and Hasbro, the current one. This way we can address to both the kids of today and the ones from 1977. We also wanted to integrate the iconography with all the paintings, the postersas well as the complete collection of Arnaud Grunberg who has been collecting rare items (prototypes, production molds) since 1977.fabrication.

ToyzMag – How many items will be on display ?

Dorothée Charles - We will show around 400 items.

ToyzMag – Did you manage some kind of balance between Kenner and Hasbro. The latter has been making Star Wars toys for far longer than Kenner.

Dorothée Charles - Hasbro toys will only illustrate the prequels notably through dioramas : the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Geonosis Arena or the invasion of Naboo. We will display more dioramas with Kenner toys recreating scenes from Return of the Jedi : the Sarlaac Pit, the battle of Endor and the attack on the Death Star.

ToyzMag – Hasbro has made and still makes lots of toys inpired by the OT but you're saying that basically you will only use the ones from the new movies ?

Dorothée Charles - Yes, Hasbro's selection is only about the last three episodes. it's a choice we made. ScienceFictionArchives.com 's collection is mainly focused on the first episodes.

ToyzMag – Arnaud Grunberg is known for his marvelous Kenner collection. How did you select the 400 items ?

Dorothée Charles – Arnaud Grunberg and his team being Star Wars specialists, we've worked alot with them. I wrote the project witht the layout of the Gallery in mind and we agreed on the importance of the Original Trilogy which is strongly represented in his collection and from which he owns a lot of unique items. Then, during selection we've exchanged thoroughly adding pieces, removing others... Doing so we were able to create a list appealing to both connoisseurs and novices.

We also selected vintage store display collected by Arnaud Grunberg through both his personal and professional lives.

ToyzMag – We saw you chose some typically French vintage products like carnival masks from César. Will it be a trademark of the exhibition ?

Dorothée Charles – Exactly. We have a display dedicated to masks and costumes where two French brands will be honored :César and Le Panache blanc (which still exists). We will also show production molds showing how toymakers develop toys and choose the best production techniques and the final concepts The mask of Yoda is a good example as two versions were produced with different ears and only one made it to retail.

ToyzMag – There is in France quite a large community of Star Wars toys collectors, have you already noticed any form of anticipation ?

Dorothée Charles - We are not aware of any reaction yet. The team of SFA went to the US last summer to meet with fans but that's about it.

ToyzMag – During Star Wars Celebration Hasbro talked about your exhibition, is there any chance to see the exhibition in other countries ?

Dorothée Charles - Hasbro is a partner of the exhibition along with ScienceFictionArchives.com, la Grande Récré (French toystores, property of Arnaud Grunberd) and a local bank, the BRED. The exhibition is not supposed to move but as the toys belong to them, it would have to be ScienceFictionArchives.com's decision.

ToyzMag – How many visitors are expected ?

Dorothée Charles – We're basing our expectations on the exemple of another exhibition : "Il était une fois Playmobil" (Once upon a time Playmobil), which was very successful uwith 150 000 visitors, moslty families and teenagers. This time the public should be slightly different : fans and more boys and dads.

Les jouets Star Wars

Musée des Arts décoratifs - Paris (1er arrondissement)

From October the 4th, 2012 to March the 17th, 2013.

Free admittance under 26 years old
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

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