Joseph-Aurélien Cornet (born 20 May 1919 in Bièvre, died 20 January 2004 in

Ciney Ciney (; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. As of 2018, Ciney had a total population of 16,439. The total area is 147.56 km2 which gives a population density of 111 inhabitants per km2. Admin ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) was a Belgian-born Christian Brother,

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

and

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

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.

Education and career

Cornet was educated by the Christian Brothers of

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

. He entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1945 and 1970, respectively. In 1970, Cornet also became the first local director of the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo (IMNC) and then, in 1971, director of the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Zaïre (IMNZ). 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 Ngoyo was a kingdom of the Woyo ethnic group, located in the south of Cabinda (province), Cabinda and on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, just north of the Congo River. In the 13th century it formed part of a confederation led by Vungu. N ...

, the

Kuba KUBA (1600 AM) is a radio station based in Marysville, California. which serves the Marysville and Yuba City area, also known as the Yuba–Sutter area. KUBA is simulcast on translator K251CE 98.1 FM. Transmitting power is 5,000 watts day and 2, ...

, 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. 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 Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga ( ; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or Mobutu and also known by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer ...

regime. 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 Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the nam ...

Special Collections & Archives.

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 Moseka Yogo Ambake or Yogo Ambake Moseka (29 August 19566 May 2019) was a Congolese-born painter who later lived and worked in Brussels, Belgium. Active during the 1980s and 1990s, her work was featured in several international exhibitions. Biog ...

.'' 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

External links

*Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, F.S.C. Collection digitized field notebooks, http://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/loyno-p120701coll28:collection *Preliminary Inventory of Joseph-Aurélien Cornet, F.S.C., Collection, Special Collections & Archives, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans http://library.loyno.edu/assets/handouts/archives/Cornet_Preliminary_Inventory_2015.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornet, Joseph-Aurélien 1919 births 2004 deaths Belgian art historians Belgian Christians Belgian ethnologists Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo People from Bièvre, Belgium