Marie Roberte Dolléans-Guignard (1911-1972) studied Chinese and Japanese languages at the École nationale des Langues orientales vivantes (Paris). She also studied at the École des chartes, where she completed in 1933 a technical diploma of libraries (diplôme technique des bibliothèques).
In 1934, the French scholar Paul Pelliot (1878-1945) recommended her to the Foreign Affairs Department, which organised a professional exchange between librarian: she went to Beijing National Library to reference the French collection, while Mr. Wang Zhongmin came to Paris to compile catalogues of Chinese manuscripts.
Her journey in China was renewed three times, enabling her to stay in Beijing until 1939. She lived in Beijing in a traditional siheyuan (a courtyard surrounded by buildings on all four sides). She perfectly spoke and wrote Chinese, and was well aware of Chinese culture and customs. This enabled her to respond to pre-existing local conceptions of scenic attractions, especially when she visited sacred mountains such as Taishan or Huashan amongst others. Well informed by cultural habits that proceed from Chinese sources, she knew how to move in space, name and capture the scene accordingly. Marie Roberte Dolléans-Guignard took more than 1000 photographs with a Rolleiflex she bought in Beijing, and printed them directly in China notably in the famous German Hartung’s Photo Shop in the Legation Quarter of Peking, now Beijing.
She went back to France in February 1939 and was appointed head of the Oriental Section of the Manuscripts Department at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. This position allowed her to set up several exhibitions in the 1940s-50s-60s, while writing a fair number of publications on Chinese literary works. Under her leadership, she prompted the national library in Paris to open the “Salle Orientale” (Oriental Reading Room), which opened its doors to the specialised Sinologist audience in 1961. Other activities she led include: teaching at the Institut des Hautes etudes chinoises (University of Paris), participating in international Sinology congresses (Cambridge, Munich-Marburg, Moscow, Canberra, etc…).
More information: Marie Roberte Dolléans-Guignard’s archive full description on the platform France China Archives
