Japanese artist uses Palace of Versailles as inspiration
223 views · Published 17 October 2018 · 7:43 · Indexed 23 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(12 Oct 2018) LEADIN: Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto's portraits melt conceptions of reality. His new exhibition at the Palace of Versailles plays on the theme of revolution, as it was the lavish home of King Louis XIV and his wife Marie-Antoinette who were executed during the French Revolution. STORYLINE: The historic Palace of Versailles is hosting an exhibition of the multidisciplinary conceptual artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. Sugimoto was born in Japan and moved to the United States in 1970. The artist has used the gardens of the estate of Trianon as a canvas, blending art, architecture and permforance to play with perception. The estate of Trianon provided refuges for the royal family away from the glare of courtly life in the main palace, including Marie Antoinette's hamlet, the Petit and Grand Trianons. "The problem is that Versailles is too big, it's huge and I studied previous nine shows and artists were struggling how to deal with the size of the scale" says Sugimoto. This the tenth anniversary of an exhibition of modern art taking centre stage in the lavish historic palace. "People (Artists that previously exhibited in the Chateau de Versailles) tried to make a huge scale art, try to fit into the space, but I decided not to do that. Instead, I want to present the smallest scale of the art and fit it into the grand scale of Versailles. So here we are, we have only 2 square metres cube floating on one of the ponds, so it's... it brings people's attention to the small point into the huge scale. That's kind of a negative thinking for me, as an artist," he adds. It is here in the estate of Trianon that Sugimoto reimagines Versailles most infamous residents, King Louis XIV and his wife Marie-Antoinette, who lived here before the revolution of 1789 forced them to Paris. It was at the Petit Trianon that Marie Antoinette spent the fateful day of Oct. 5, 1789. She was strolling in the gardens, taking refuge from the rain in a small grotto, when servants came with bad news: Revolutionary rioters were at Versailles' gates. The queen spent that night at the main chateau, leaving the next day for Paris. The royal family never returned to Versailles, and Marie Antoinette died at the guillotine at age 37 in 1793. The artist's large-format, black-and-white photos, are crisp, clear and larger than life. But most of Sugimoto's carefully posed subjects were dead, of course, long before the age of photography. His basic premise is simple: He spent more than 30 years visiting and photographing the world's wax museums. Focusing on Madame Tussaud's in London, its branch in Amsterdam and a wax museum in Ito, Japan. Sugimoto took three-quarter view photos, using 8-by-10-inch negatives, of the most realistic wax figures. They are typically taken against a black background. His portrait of Louis XIV is based on a waxwork created by Antoine Benoist 10 years before the monarch's death. "My photography is the vehicle of the history, to think backwards, not forwards. So I decided to bring all my previously photographed wax-potted figures who has a record of visiting Versailles. Let's bring them back together to have a party. So this is the party of the spirits of Versailles," he says. Jean de Loisy, President of the Palais de Tokyo and the Curator of the exhibition says the artist plays on the theme of revolution. Sugimoto succeeds in melting perceptions of reality. Catherine Pegard, President of Chateau de Versailles says the exhibition will help tourists discover a little known corner of the Versailles estate. ' Surface de Révolution' runs from 16 October - 17 February 2019. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f90f6a3b0e6ba6c6e3daf7184139c7bb
