Dr Gaëlle Beaujean has a PhD in social anthropology (EHESS) and is a specialist in the royal art of Abomey (now Benin). She’s curator for African collection at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, where she curated the exhibitions “Artists of Abomey: dialogue on an African kingdom” with Joseph Adandé and Léonard Ahonon in 2009; “Africa of the Roads” in 2017 with Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch and ” Benin: Restitution of 26 works from the royal treasures of Abomey” in 2021. Since the end of 2020, she has been coordinating a collaborative project on the Dakar-Djibouti expedition [1931-1933].
Since 2008, she has been teaching the speciality “History of the arts of sub-Saharan Africa” at the École du Louvre for Licence. She supervises the research of Master 1 and Master 2, she was three times a member of the jury for Ph.Ds and evaluates articles and research projects ; she also participates in seminars and colloquia.
Gaëlle Beaujean publishes scientific articles for exhibition catalogues or peer-reviewed scientific journals – the most recent of which is on diplomatic gifts in Abomey (Politique africaine) – for catalogues of contemporary artists such as Romeo Mivekannin (Galerie Eric Dupont) or Mark Brusse (Galerie Vallois), and children’s book (Arts de l’Afrique – Palette).
Her publication published in 2019 by Les Presses du Réel, L’Art de cour d’Abomey: le sens des objets, was awarded the triennial American Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award 2021 by the ACASA (Arts Council of the African Studies Association).