Bertrand Porte

Bertrand Porte (b. 1961, Lyon, France) is an art conservation expert and museologist who has been working with the National Museum of Cambodia (NMC) since 1996, and contributed to the development of the Champassak Museum (Muang Champassak ຈໍາປາສັກ, Laos) since 2010.

After initially studying land-use planning, he joined the advanced course ​‘Conservation-restauration des œuvres sculptées’ [Conservation-Restoration of Sculpted Artworks] at Tours School of Fine Arts, majoring in 1989. From 1990 to 1996, he worked as an independent conservator-restorer and technical adviser on several projects in France, including Château de Versailles, the Colbert Aisle at Louvre Museum, Fonds National d’Art contemporain (FNAC) in the Loire Valley, Lyon Region and Brittany. 

In 1996, he was commissioned by the Direction des Musées de France and EFEO to train and develop the Conservation-Restoration Workshop at NMC Phnon Penh, focusing on the Khmer artefacts selected for the 1997 Musée Guimet exhibition ​‘Angkor et dix siècles d’art khmer’ at Paris Grand-Palais. His mission was expanded to rework on previously restored sandstone sculptures, set up thematic art shows at NMC (Ganesha, Female Deities, Post-Angkorian Buddha Statues), and implement museological improvements at NMC from 1996 to 2006 as EFEO ingénieur d’étude. 

Working with ancient sculpture specialist such as C. Fischer (UCLA), Bertrand Porte has focused his research on the Funan period, culminating with the Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain immersive exhibition (2021) at the Cleveland Museum of Art, USA, in collaboration with CMA curator Sonya Rhie Mace. At the same time, he has contributed to the indexing and digitization program of NMC photo-archive, in particular with the recovery and processing of some 900 glass photographic plates made by NMC founder George Groslier and picturing Royal Ballet dancers in the years 1917 – 1929. 

In addition to furthering research and restoration on sculpted lintels, Phnom Da sculptures and inscription slabs in Cambodia, Bernard Porte and his NMC team also worked on local collections — Siem Reap Angkor Conservation, Battambang, Takeo, Kompong Cham, as well as historic wats [monasteries] across the country. With Cambodian experts, he helped in developing the restoration workshop at Cham Museum, Da Nang, Vietnam (2003−2009). Similar interventions were conducted at HCMC History Museum (from 2006) and Wat Phu Museum (Champassak, Laos). Established on 2 December 1995 and now located alongside the Champassak Provincial Library, this two-storey museum contains extensive collections of archaeological, historical and ethnological artefacts from the region. B. Porte has been working with four Laotian EFEO collaborators, Chanphenh Phommavandy, Thongbang Phengsawat, Soubanh Kanhaphanh and Sisamai Silaphet.

Publications

• “La remise au jour du Buddha de Vat Kompong Luong”, Arts Asiatiques (AA) 57, 2002: 219 – 222 [via persee​.fr].
• “Curieuses sculptures khmères”, AA 59, 2004: 173 – 177 [via persee​.fr].
• Histoire du Musée National du Cambodge, Exhibition catalog, Phnom Penh, NMC, 2010.
• Avec les danseuses royales du Cambodge, Exhibition catalog, Phnom Penh, NMC/​French Institute in Cambodia, 2012.
• Cérémonies funéraires royales, Exhibition catalog, Phnom Penh, NMC, 20133.
• “Sculptures transformées, du Phnom Da au Núi Ba Thê”, AA 71, 2016: 141 – 158 [via persee​.fr].
• [with Lucie Labbé] ​“Avec les danseuses royales du Cambodge: Photographier les postures de la danse”, Arts Asiatiques 73, 2018: 155 – 170.
• [editor with Sonya Rhie Mace], Revealing Krishna, Essays on the History, Context, and Conservation of Krishna Lifting
  Mount Govardhan from Phnom Da, The Cleveland Museum of Art in association with D. Giles Limited, London, 2021, 194 p. ISBN 978−1−911282−78−5.
• “Le Rapport sur le transfert en septembre 1944 de statues du Buddha et d’un piédestal de la commune d’Angkor Borei, district de Prey Kabbas, province de Takéo, de Kam Doum (Kâ̆m Dŭm), traduit par Michel Antelme et Hiep Chan Vicheth”, BEFEO 109, 2023: 237 – 274 [via persee​.fr].
   

Watch Bertrand Porte’s interview with Cambodge Mag, March 2010 (in French).