Fashion chief shows how art brings people together

Francois-Henri Pinault visited the National Museum of China in Beijing for "memory reviving" on Friday.

There, the chairman and chief executive officer of the French luxury group, Kering, saw the rat and rabbit bronze heads, two of the 12 zodiac animal sculptures that had been looted from Beijing's Old Summer Palace.

On June 28, 2013, Francois-Henri Pinault accompanied his father, Francois Pinault, founder of Kering, to a ceremony at the National Museum of China, where the family's donation of the two heads was officially unveiled and added to the museum's collection.

Since then, the two bronze items have been on display at The Road to Rejuvenation, a long-term thematic exhibition at the National Museum of China.

"As my father said to me once, the best way to protect and to preserve art is to make it visible to the public. If you keep it for yourself, no one sees it," Francois-Henri Pinault tells China Daily.

For this trip, he was not only to see the two sculptures, but also to attend the premiere of a documentary, The Long Journey Home.

With the support of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the two-episode production of some 56 minutes traces the return of the two bronze heads and several other Chinese cultural relics from abroad, as well as the shared vision and cooperation between China and France in preserving historical legacies.

The documentary was also broadcast on the China Media Group's Documentary Channel on Friday and Saturday.

"For the past 11 years, these bronze heads from the Old Summer Palace have been carefully preserved and displayed in the museum, allowing millions of visitors from various countries to see them up close and appreciate the historical, cultural and artistic value behind these two treasures," said Gao Zheng, director of the National Museum of China, at the premiere.

Francois-Henri Pinault echoes the sentiment. "The future is the door, and the past is the key to that door. Cultural heritage is not just the past … It's the key to the future, because if you want to build a better future, you need to understand the past. And to understand the past, you need to protect it and preserve it."

He says the importance of heritage concerns everyone, in all countries, a perspective he hopes that viewers of the documentary will understand.

Recollecting the initial acquisition of the two heads from a European collector, Francois-Henri Pinault talks about his family tradition of collection: "I came from a family where art is very important, particularly for my father."

Francois Pinault amassed an art collection over 50 years, that has been displayed at the three Pinault Collection museums in Paris and Venice.

"When you love the arts, it's just not just one of the arts," says Francois-Henri Pinault. "You're always very aware of how important heritage is, the past, the history, not just the art of today, but all types of art."

The 12 zodiac bronzes were installed around a fountain at the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, the former royal resort of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

It was burned and razed to the ground by the invading French and British forces in 1860.

Numerous relics from the site, including the 12 bronzes, later lost to overseas.

The reemergence of the rat and rabbit heads at a Paris auction in 2009 drew wide attention.

"We realized the importance of (the two heads) in the eyes of the Chinese people, and we said, well, can we do something as an individual, as a family, as a group? If we can buy them, we will give them back to China," says Francois-Henri Pinault.

"Chinese culture has an extraordinary impact on all humanity. It is very important for us to participate in the transmission and preservation of China's cultural heritage."

The documentary is also dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations this year. A series of events have been organized and will be held to celebrate the anniversary, including activities under the banner of the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

Francois-Henri Pinault says that understanding art and culture and cultural heritage is probably the best way for people to talk to each other, as "it goes beyond borders".

"It's really our commitment and my father's willingness to bring to people a better understanding of the world through art, through creativity," he adds.