The world’s most important Museum of the History of Hairdressing, founded and directed by Raffel Pages in Barcelona, continues to expand its incredible collection and presents its most ambitious exhibition to date, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, which will take place at the spring of 2023.
This significant treasure-trove of incalculable importance is made up of 11,000 pieces – 800 of which are exhibited in the Museum of the History of Hairdressing in Barcelona.
Hairdresser and businessman Raffel Pages has the most important and distinguished collection of objects related to the history of the profession anywhere in the world. It’s a collection that also includes a unique library where more than 2,000 works from the 16th century to the present.
From centuries-old combs to Roman and ancient Chinese mirrors, razors from Pope Pius X and scissors from 17th Century and works of art by Goya, Picasso and Cocteau, it also includes the very first hair appliances and dryers. Also included are the first professional dyes and hair industry magazines, as well as locks by Salvador Dalí, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Beatles. All this and more attracted the attention of the prestigious Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, whose anthological exhibition is to include a selection of pieces from the Raffel Pages Museum.
“This will be a temporary exhibition about hairstyles and belongings typical of our trade prior to the 20th century and will be held in the Spring of 2023 in the heart of Paris,” explains Raffel Pages. “I am very happy because about five years ago the directors and the curator of this museum were in my offices and I they must have forgotten about this beautiful and exciting exhibition project which would include some of my collection… Now justice will be done and hairdressing is being formally recognised as an ancestral and artistic profession! Furthermore, it will take place in Paris, a city that I love and that made me who I am with the guidance of an exceptional woman, Rosy Carita in whose salon I began my career.“
At the same time, the activity in the Hairdressing History Museum continues, even through a year as terrible as this 2020. despite the restrictions needed due to enhanced safety and hygiene measures, new and valuable pieces related to the history of the profession have been acquired. Therefore, Raffel Pages, together with Eduard Reig, curator and historian of the Museum, gives us an account of the latest additions to the collection (see image gallery): starting with a fabulous sculpted wooden altarpiece representing a hairdresser cutting the hair of his client, signed Lardeux (France, c. 1800); a ceramic wig holder (c. 1659) that even served to dry them if they were wet by lighting a piece of charcoal that was introduced into the “mouth”; the very interesting work ‘Une Histoire de la Coiffure’ written by Hervé Boudon; a valuable drawing by the great painter and poster artist Charles Kiffer depicting a scene in a hairdressing salon (1945); an exceptional altarpiece on Egyptian palm wood, without definite dating, which represents a beauty and hairdressing session; and finally a personal gift from the hairdressing master Jose Luis for the Raffel Pages Museum in which one of the magnificent designs so characteristic of this legendary Barcelonan hairdresser is displayed.
For more information and visits about the Raffel Pages Hairdressing History Museum please CLICK HERE
