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On this day in
1832 was born Paul Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator.
1872 Russian pianist and composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was born
1993 died Rudolf Nureyev , one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century
2004 died Francesco Scavullo, American photographer best known for his celebrity portraits. |
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Exhibition in Paris: Jan Fabre
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| Thursday, May 15, 2008 |
The Louvre museum continues to pursue its policy of openness to contemporary art and living artists by extending an invitation this spring to Jan Fabre. Within the galleries devoted to the painted works of the Flemish, Dutch and German Schools, visitors are encouraged to rediscover celebrated works by masters such as van Eyck, van der Weyden, Bosch, Metsys and Rubens through the eyes of this major artist of the contemporary scene.
After completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Institute for Decorative Arts in Antwerp, Jan Fabre launched his career in the late 1970s with provocative “actions” and “private performances”. A shining star of the Flemish new wave in the 1980s, he is above all a skilled draftsman, visual artist and designer, but also stages unusually free and unrestrained performance pieces, placing the body at the heart of his approach.
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Jan Fabre, Sarcofago Conditus, « Lui qui fut représenté sur sa tombe » 2003, prêt Salerne, Italie photo Attilio Maranzano, © Angelos.© Adagp, 2008 |
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Fabré has participated in prestigious international exhibitions such as Documenta in Kassel as well as the Venice, Lyon, São Paolo, Valencia and Istanbul biennales. In 2006, the city of Antwerp played host to his exhibition Homo Faber, presented within the ancient art galleries of its Royal Museum of Fine Arts. His theater company Troubleyn, launched in 1986, frequently appears at leading venues in Europe, including the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Avignon Festival, and most recently the Salzburg Festival, which saw the premiere of Requiem for a Metamorphosis.
Jan Fabre, Le bousier 2001, Courtesy Galerie Guy Bärtschi—Genève © 2008 Musée du Louvre / Antoine Mongodin © Adagp, 2008 |
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The itinerary proposed by Jan Fabre through the museum’s collections may be perceived as a “mental drama” featuring the major elements of his own life work and those of the old masters. The artist seeks to connect his universe with the main themes running through the Louvre’s collections: death and resurrection, the vanities of human life, sacrifice, money, madness, carnival, battles, the artist’s studio. Some thirty works—ranging from drawings, sculptures, video and other installations to performance pieces captured on film—thus punctuate the itinerary imagined by
the artist.
The continuity of the dialogue between Jan Fabre and the Dutch, Flemish and German old masters, a legacy ever present in the artist’s approach to his work, as well as the types of interventions placed on view, enhance the power and mystery of the works in the Louvre’s collections and endow them with new meanings. For instance, in The Martyrdom of Art, paintings by Dutch, Flemish and German old masters in the Louvre hold great fascination and are a source of both inspiration and considerable torment for Jan Fabre. I Let Myself Drain is the opening piece of this exhibition. The visitor, confronted with the artist’s alter ego, immediately enters his universe. The artist presents himself as a martyr, defeated by the talent of his predecessors and sacrificed in the name of art.
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Autoportrait en plus grand ver du monde 2008, Collection de l'artiste © 2008 Musée du Louvre / Antoine Mongodin
© Adagp, 2008 |
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Drawings using the artist’s own blood (My Body, My Blood, My Landscape) mirror the brutal carnage of the Martyrdom of Saint Denis, the altarpiece by Henri Bellechose. In Death and Resurrection (after martyrdom comes death.) a recumbent figure depicting the artist in death, Sarcofago Conditus, is presented opposite works by Hans Memling. For Jan Fabre, this entire room pays tribute to death and resurrection by virtue of the paintings displayed. Moving on to the motif of the lamb, the quintessential sacrificial animal, with a reference to the Mystical Lamb, a Flemish treasure by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Jan Fabre calls on the divine and the spiritual in his work Sanguis Sum. At the same time, the party hat worn by the lamb recalls the carnival tradition of the Low Countries and gives a more prosaic dimension to this resurrection, raising the question of the identity of the contemporary world’s savior.
Further information
Jan Fabré: L'ange de la métamorphose |
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