Joseph-Aurélien Cornet

Joseph-Aurélien Cornet FSC (born 20 May 1919 in Bièvre, died 20 January 2004 in Ciney, Belgium[1]) was a Belgian-born Christian Brother, ethnologist and art historian who documented the art and culture of the Congolese region and people of the Congo in photographs, illustrated field notebooks, and language primers for nearly 30 years.

Brother

Joseph-Aurélien Cornet F.S.C.
Orders
Ordination1938
Personal details
Born (1919-05-20) May 20, 1919
Graide, Bièvre, Belgium
DiedJanuary 20, 2004(2004-01-20) (aged 84)
Ciney, Belgium
NationalityBelgian
DenominationRoman Catholic, Latin Church
ResidenceDemocratic Republic of the Congo
OccupationInstitute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, art and architectural historian
Alma materUniversité catholique de Louvain

Education and career

Cornet was educated by the Christian Brothers of Louvain. He entered the novitiate in 1935, earned a teaching degree in 1938, followed by bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in art history from the Catholic University of Louvain in 1945 and 1970, respectively.[2]

In 1970, Cornet also became the first local director of the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo (IMNC)[3] and then, in 1971, director of the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Zaïre (IMNZ).[4] The IMNC was founded without either a building or any objects, so Cornet's primary task was to develop the museum's collections. He did so primarily among the Woyo, the Kuba, and the Nkundu peoples. He documented his findings in field notebooks and binders of photo negatives with the aim of eventually developing a ten volume History of Congolese Art.[5]

Cornet retired from the directorship of the IMNC in 1987 and returned to Belgium in 1992 where he continued researching, publishing and lecturing, especially on tracking looted objects from the museum following the 1997 collapse of the Mobutu regime.[6]

Following his death in 2004, Cornet's archive of photographic negative binders, field notebooks, language and personal notes, printed materials, and other research objects were donated to the Loyola University New Orleans Special Collections & Archives.[7]

Bibliography
  • Joseph-Aurélien Cornet. Art Du Zaïre: 100 Chefs-d'oeuvre de la Collection Nationale. African-American Institute, 1975 - Art, Congolese (Democratic Republic) - 132 pages
  • Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, Victor Bol. Moseka Yogo Ambake. Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde, 1994 - 23 pages
  • Joseph Aurélien Cornet. Zaïre: volken, kunst, kultuur. Mercatorfonds, 1989 - Art, Congolese (Democratic Republic) - 407 pages
  • Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve, Nicole Ledent, Anne Massaux, Christine Thiry, Bernard Van den Driessche, Ignace Vandevivere. Collections africaines: Florilège. Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve, 2000 - Art - 110 pages.

References
  1. Holmstedt, Leif Birger (15 October 2017). "Joseph Aurélien Cornet and His Importance to Classic Congolese Art". Ìmộ Dára. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  2. De Strycker, Louis (2004). "In Memoriam: Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, 1919-2004". African Arts. 37 (2): 10. JSTOR 3337953.
  3. "Institute du Musées Nationaux du Congo". Culture Congo. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  4. De Strycker (2004). "In Memoriam: Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, 1919-2004". African Arts. 37 (2): 10. JSTOR 3337953.
  5. "Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, F.S.C. Collection". Louisiana Digital Library. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  6. De Strycker (2004). "In Memoriam: Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, 1919-2004". African Arts. 37 (2): 92. JSTOR 3337953.
  7. "Preliminary Inventory of Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, F.S.C., Collection" (PDF). J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
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