Bijoux antiques @ Kohn - Cannes
Bracelet jonc orné de têtes de béliers. Art Grec, Epoque Hellénistique, IVe siècle av J. C. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or. L. 7 cm. Bracelet ouvert terminé par deux têtes de béliers. Estimation : 7 500 / 8 000 €
Pendants d'oreilles. Art romain, IIe ou IIIe siècles. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or, perles et améthystes. H. 10 cm. Le pendant est formé d'un disque centré d'une perle baroque retenant une améthyste terminée par une chaîne tressée en chevrons. Estimation : 2 200 / 2 500 €
Bague serpent. Art Hellénistique. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or. Bague formée d'un serpent enroulé à décor de petits points imitant les écailles. Anneaux arrières refaits. Estimation : 1 800 / 2 000 €
Collier minoen. Art Minoen, IIe millénaire av J. C. photo Kohn - Cannes
Cornaline et Lapis-lazuli. L. 50 cm. Collier en perles tubulaire de cornaline orange, de perles en lapis-lazuli en côtes de melon, et de perles formant un tube entouré deux paires de demi-cercles gravés. Bonne conservation, fermoir moderne en or. Estimation : 1 600 / 1 800 €
Pendentif aux cornes croisées. Art Celte, IIe siècle av J. C. photo Kohn - Cannes
Argent. H. 5,5 cm. Pendentif formé de deux cornes croisées, liées entre elles. La bélière tubulaire est décorée de fines lignes parallèles. Estimation : 1 500 / 1 800 €
Intaille : buste d'Athéna. Art romain, Ier - IIe siècles. photo Kohn - Cannes
Agate bleue et or moderne. Rare intaille gravée d'une tête d'Athéna de profil casquée. Monture en or 22K guilloché moderne contrôlé. Estimation : 1 300 / 1 500 €
Beau collier. Époque Romaine. photo Kohn - Cannes
Pâte de verre, grenat et or. L. 64 cm. Collier en perles lenticulaires de pâte de verre anis, au centre une alternance de grenats et de perles en or en forme de couronne. Bonne conservation, fermoir moderne en or. Estimation : 1 200 / 1 500 €
Bague. Art Grec, VIe siècle av J. C. photo Kohn - Cannes
Cornaline et or. Bague en or sertie d'une intaille en cornaline gravée d'un chien stylisé courant Estimation : 1 200 / 1 500 €
Amulette de taureau. Art Achéménide, VIe-IVe siècle av J. C. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or et cornaline. H. 1 cm. Perle en cornaline représentant un taureau assis, montée en épingle à cravate. Estimation : 600 / 800 €
Kohn - Cannes. Vente du Mardi 3 août 2010. Mme Valérie GABARD, Expert. Hotel Intercontinental Carlton - 58, La Croisette - BP 155 - 06414 Cannes Cedex. Pour tous renseignements, veuillez contacter la maison de ventes au +33 (0) 1 44 18 73 00 +33 (0) 1 44 18 73 00
French coral, sapphire and diamond brooch, circa 1920s
French coral, sapphire and diamond brooch, circa 1920s. photo Bonhams
The foliate carved rectangular coral panel edged with two vertical lines of brilliant-cut diamonds, each corner with a flowerhead cluster of four cabochon sapphires and diamond centre, French control marks, length 3.7cm. Estimate: £500 - 600. This lot has been withdrawn
Bonhams. Jewellery, 27 Jul 2010. Oxford www.bonhams.com
Cuillère liturgique. Byzance, XVIIIe siècle & Rares instruments liturgiques. Byzance, IVe-VIe siècles
Cuillère liturgique. Byzance, XVIIIe siècle. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or. H. 11,5 cm. Cuillère à manche torsadé, cuilleron gravé d'une croix. Estimation : 2 600 / 3 000 €
Rares instruments liturgiques. Byzance, IVe-VIe siècles. photo Kohn - Cannes
Argent. H. 16 cm et 17,5 cm. Petite louche et truelle liturgique, portant une colombe, image de l'Esprit Saint dans le Nouveau Testament. Estimation : 1 800 / 2 200 €
Kohn - Cannes. Vente du Mardi 3 août 2010. Mme Valérie GABARD, Expert. Hotel Intercontinental Carlton - 58, La Croisette - BP 155 - 06414 Cannes Cedex. Pour tous renseignements, veuillez contacter la maison de ventes au +33 (0) 1 44 18 73 00
Istanbul's Pera Palace to Reopen and Seek Return to Glory Era
The main hall of Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. AP Photo/Pera Palace.
ISTANBUL (AP).- It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war.
Mata Hari, accused of spying and executed in France in 1917, stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel. So did Greta Garbo, who played the shadowy dancer in a 1931 movie. Ernest Hemingway checked in to report on war between Turks and Greeks. Agatha Christie is said to have crafted "Murder on the Orient Express" in Room 411.
Then, like the empire it outlived, the hotel slid into decay.
On Sept. 1, the state-owned Pera Palace will reopen after a two-year restoration that cost 23 million euros ($30 million), seeking to capture the lost sparkle of what was one of Istanbul's most prominent landmarks. It is no longer the lone luxury hotel on a hill above the Golden Horn inlet. The former Ottoman capital teems with high-end accommodation, some in restored imperial mansions along the Bosporus Strait that divides the Asian and European continents.
Pinar Kartal Timer, general manager of the Pera Palace, believes fabled guests of the past will bestow new glory on the hotel, which held its opening ball in 1895.
"These people have left their traces in this hotel," Timer said in an interview in the 115-room hotel Wednesday. Major structural work and painting was complete, but the old ballroom was empty and the mother-of-pearl bookshelves had not been installed. Workers hammered, and layers of cardboard and plastic covered some balustrades and marble-floored passageways.
The Pera Palace mirrors the revival of the surrounding Beyoglu area, historically known as Pera, which comes from the Greek word for "beyond." It was nicknamed "Little Europe" in the late 19th century, an enclave of Greek and Armenian entrepreneurs, along with European diplomats and businessmen who imported luxury goods from capitals to the west.
Many local residents fled deadly unrest or moved to outlying areas, leaving neglected stone facades to brood in the narrow, trash-filled streets. In the last decade, shops and restaurants flooded the central neighborhood as economic fortunes and pride in Istanbul's heritage blossomed.
Mehmet Karaoren is a partner in an architectural firm that snapped up a dozen Pera buildings, restoring them and selling or renting the refitted apartments. In some years, the prices of their properties have doubled.
"In the beginning, this was a game for us. It became a business," said Karaoren, who sought inspiration for his restorations during travels to Paris, London and New York City.
A commission linked to Turkey's Culture Ministry bars changes that would taint the historical integrity of a structure, though allowances are made for reinforcement against earthquakes and the installation of elevators in tall buildings with dimly lit, winding staircases.
Business interests and a lack of political will have sometimes trumped the work of conservationists. Istanbul, home to relics and monuments from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, is at risk of being placed on a list of endangered cultural treasures by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. That would be a serious embarrassment since the European Union designated the city as its "cultural capital" this year.
David Michelmore, an international conservationist, said unrestored sections of old Pera were at risk of demolition, and he compared the area to London's Notting Hill district in the 1960s, a shabby area before its successful rehabilitation.
"It's not tourists mostly, it's Turkish people who are going there," Michelmore said. "Historic centers have a huge capacity for serving purposes of recreation and relaxation."
The original owner of the Pera Palace was Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which operated the Orient Express luxury train line. A Turkish conglomerate, the Besiktas Group, now manages the hotel. It has a modern spa and an indoor pool, as well as new elevators to supplement the original wood and cast iron one.
The building is a mix of styles distinctive to 19th century Istanbul — neo-classical, art nouveau and oriental. Rooms have handwoven carpets and antique furniture mixed with the new. Sixteen are suites named after guests including Britain's King Edward VIII and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Basic room prices start at 185 euros ($240), excluding tax and breakfast, but go higher in peak season. Ahead of the September opening, they are 265 euros ($350).
Nobody will sleep in Room 101. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a former army officer who founded Turkey in 1923, once used it as a base. The room will house a museum of items belonging to Ataturk, including hats, slippers and dignitaries' gifts.
The hotel hosted spies as well as statesmen. Kim Philby, the British-Soviet double agent, was nearly unmasked in Istanbul, and the agent codenamed Cicero, valet to the British ambassador in Ankara, visited as he sold secret documents to German agents in World War II.
A witness to tumult, the Pera Palace became a target in 1941 when a bomb exploded at the entrance shortly after the arrival of a British diplomatic party from Bulgaria, which had sided with the Nazis. Several people died.
Hemingway drank at the hotel's Orient Bar in the early 1920s. In his story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," the main character, a writer, recalls a brawl over a woman with a British soldier in Istanbul. He slept with the woman that night:
"...and he left her before she was awake looking blousy enough in the first daylight and turned up at the Pera Palace with a black eye, carrying his coat because one sleeve was missing." By: Christopher Torchia, Associated Press Writer. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
The ceiling of the main hall in Pera Palace hotel is seen, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 30, 2010. It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war. On Sept. 1, the Pera Palace will re-open after a two-year restoration that cost euro23 million ($30 million), seeking to capture the lost sparkle of what was one of Istanbul's most prominent landmarks. AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta
Rare collier aux perles cruciformes émaillées. Espagne, ou Communautés Andalouses d'Afrique du Nord, XVIe-XVIIe siècles.
Rare collier aux perles cruciformes émaillées. Espagne, ou Communautés Andalouses d'Afrique du Nord, XVIe-XVIIe siècles. photo Kohn - Cannes
Or, émaux cloisonnés vert, rouge, bleu et blanc, et verre. Diam. 40,5 cm. Bon état de conservation, quelques manques à l'émail. Estimation : 18 000 / 25 000 €
Le collier est composé au centre d'une perle talisman, tubulaire émaillée de laquelle pendent deux gouttes, avec un décor en filigrane et émail cloisonné. En alternance, des perles en agate et en améthyste, des perles rondes en or filigrané et émaillé, et des perles en forme de croix avec un décor émaillé floral autour d'une pierre de couleur.
L'alternance de perles en pierre et d'éléments en émail trouve son origine dans les bijoux islamiques andalous.
Un modèle similaire est exposé au Musée National Archéologique de Madrid et publié dans Emaux d'Al Andalous et du Maghreb, par Valérie Gonzalez, Aixen- Provence, 1994, Pl. 143, p. 190.
Les perles en forme de croix nous rappellent la parure exposée au Metropolitan Muséum of Art de New York, publiée par Jerrilynn D. Dodds, Al Andalous, Catalogue de l'Exposition, New York, 1992, n°72, p 302-3
Kohn - Cannes. Vente du Mardi 3 août 2010. Mme Valérie GABARD, Expert. Hotel Intercontinental Carlton - 58, La Croisette - BP 155 - 06414 Cannes Cedex. Pour tous renseignements, veuillez contacter la maison de ventes au +33 (0) 1 44 18 73 00
"The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City" @ Peabody Essex Museum
Juanquin theater room stage, Palace Museum; Courtesy of WMF and Palace Museum.
"An emperor or king should have extensive grounds to stroll in and lovely vistas to enjoy. If he has such a place, he will be able to cultivate his mind and refine his emotions." -The Qianlong emperor
SALEM, MA -- When the last emperor of China, Puyi, left the Forbidden City in 1924, the doors closed on a secluded compound of pavilions and gardens deep within the palace. Filled with exquisite objects personally commissioned by the 18th-century Qianlong (pronounced chee'en lohng) emperor for his personal enjoyment, the complex of lavish buildings and exquisite landscaping lay dormant for decades. Now for the first time, 90 objects of ceremony and leisure - murals, paintings, furniture, architectural and garden components, jades and cloisonné - will be on view at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts. The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will reveal the contemplative life and refined vision of one of history's most influential rulers with artworks from one of the most magnificent places in the world.
A model of international cooperation, the exhibition was organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in partnership with the Palace Museum, Beijing, and in cooperation with World Monuments Fund (WMF). "This is the first time that the Palace Museum has authorized such a large-scale and comprehensive traveling exhibition of original historic cultural heritage objects and interiors, all of which represent the apex of the Qianlong period," said Zheng Xianmiao, Director of the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Emperor's Private Paradise will travel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 3, 2011 - May 1, 2011) and the Milwaukee Art Museum (June 11, 2011 - September 12, 2011).
"This is a very exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our visitors to see the contents of this extraordinary Forbidden City complex before it opens to the public at large in 2019. Our collaboration with the Palace Museum and World Monuments Fund underscores PEM's commitment to showing ambitious, world-class exhibitions and to our ongoing cultural exchange with China," said Dan Monroe, Executive Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum.
A garden of elegant repose
A jewel in the immense Forbidden City complex, the Qianlong Garden had remained untouched for more than 230 years when in 2001 the Palace Museum and WMF began the restoration of the 27 buildings, pavilions and outdoor elements including ancient trees and rockeries. Built when China was the largest and most prosperous nation in the world, the garden complex was part of the emperor's ambitious commission undertaken in anticipation of his retirement. Buddhist shrines, open-air gazebos, sitting rooms, libraries, theaters and gardens were interspersed with bamboo groves and other natural arrangements. In the garden's worlds within worlds, the Qianlong emperor would retreat from affairs of state and meditate in closeted niches, write poetry, study the classics and delight in his collection and artistic creations.
"The Qianlong Garden project is the centerpiece of our conservation work in China. World Monuments Fund is honored to be part of both the history and the future of this important site, and delighted to be working with the Peabody Essex Museum and bringing the Qianlong Garden to a public audience," said Bonnie Burnham, President of World Monuments Fund.
The Emperor's Private Paradise includes a film and other interactive elements highlighting the conservation process undertaken by the Palace Museum and WMF, as well as the gifted artisans who restored the objects and architecture to their original condition. A computerized walk-through will offer visitors a vicarious experience of one of the principal structures, the Juanqinzhai building, conservation of which has just been completed. Museum-goers will be able to try their hand at calligraphy with a touch station that will lead them through the brush strokes.
An emperor of exceptional influence
Reigning from 1736 to 1796, the Qianlong emperor led China to sweeping administrative, military and cultural achievements while far surpassing European monarchs of his day in wealth and power. As the fourth emperor of the Qing (pronounced ching) dynasty to rule China, his 60-year reign spanned the American and French Revolutions, and the reigns of a veritable parade of Georges, Fredericks and Catherines of Europe. The Qianlong emperor was a multi-faceted monarch - an aggressive military conqueror of vast territories and a passionate patron of the arts. Many of our impressions of imperial China's splendor date from the 18th-century, and owe much to the tastes, fashions and style of the Qianlong court. While incorporating classic Chinese design features such as elements of nature and expressions of Confucian morality, the Qianlong emperor also added new concepts from European painting styles. His desire to innovate within the Chinese aesthetic touched the objects, architecture and landscapes that he commissioned, transforming what we recognize as Chinese art.
Objects of imperial contemplation
The artworks crafted for the Qianlong emperor echoed and supported his dedication to Buddhist spiritual pursuits, Confucian morals, love of literature and reverence for nature. "Visitors to this exhibition will be invited to walk through our galleries the way the Qianlong emperor would have strolled through his rooms and gardens. Around each corner are opportunities to encounter objects of beauty and exceptional craftsmanship," said Nancy Berliner, exhibition curator and curator of Chinese art at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Hanging panel with niches; zitan, painted and gilt clay, colors on silk; 65 ½ x 36 ½ x 1 ½ inches; Courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing.
A spectacular hanging Buddhist shrine painted on silk (above) evokes a paradisiacal realm, radiant with color and glittering with gold. The work is a mandala, a Buddhist cosmogram depicting a portion of the universe with deities and other supernatural beings arranged in a ritually auspicious design that can aid the meditation of initiated worshippers. In an innovative combination of two and three-dimensional formats, painted figures sit nestled in glass-covered insets, dotting the piece like set gemstones. The emperor, a devotee of a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Mongolia, is depicted in gold as the Bodhisattva Manjusri at the center.
Throne; zitan, bamboo, jade, semi-precious stones, and lacquer; 38 ½ x 46 ¼ x 33 inches; Courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing.
The magnificent throne (above) exemplifies the exceptional craftsmanship of artisans engaged by the emperor to furnish his private world. This piece was carved from zitan, a wood so hard and dense that it sinks in water. Techniques including gold painting on lacquer, bamboo thread marquetry, fine wood carving, and jade and hardstone inlay contributed to the elegant solidity of the piece, which likely took well over a year to complete.
Screen (sixteen panels); Zitan, lacquer, jade, and gold paint; Each panel 84 x 28 x 2 ½ inches; Courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing.
An impressive sight for Buddhist devotees or art connoisseurs is the monumental jade-and- lacquer screen (above) of 16 luohan, or enlightened beings -- the celebrated, quasi-legendary disciples of the Buddha. Each character is depicted in a surprisingly grotesque manner after an earlier painting by a master who saw them appear this way in a dream. Visually arresting in black and white, the reverse side of the screen is equally striking, with glorious botanical images painted in gold. Long hidden from view due to its orientation flush with a chamber wall, the reverse images were a great discovery for Palace Museum and WMF conservators working on the project.
Also included in the exhibition is one of the rare extant examples of imperial trompe-l'oeil mural painting, a fifteen-foot-wide work depicting women and children in a palace hall celebrating the New Year. The mural is one of only six such surviving 18th-century works. Painted by Chinese court artists who had been trained by a European artist, the mural reflects a successful blending of European and Chinese traditions.
Other objects range from the quietly personal to the flamboyantly crafted and hued. Calligraphy written in the emperor's own hand conveys a sense of his refined thinking and brush technique. Panels carved in semiprecious gemstone or rendered in brilliantly pigmented cloisonné are as vibrant and pleasing as the day they were created.
China and the Peabody Essex Museum
PEM's relationship with China extends nearly to the Qianlong emperor's reign, and is the longest of any museum in North America. Dating to the close of the 18th-century, PEM's holdings in Chinese art and Asian export art represent some of this country's first efforts to reach outward and establish mutually enriching, lasting exchanges with other nations.
The Emperor's Private Paradise is the next step in PEM's ongoing commitment to bringing new discoveries in Chinese art and architecture to the public. Yin Yu Tang, an 18th-century merchant's house acquired by the museum in 2003, is the jewel of the museum's collection and the only example of historic vernacular Chinese architecture in North America. The building was meticulously dismantled at its original site in southeastern Anhui province, and re-constructed piece by piece at the museum in Salem. Yin Yu Tang remains a great source of pride for the museum, a deep and abiding connection to China and a rare trove of living scholarship.
On view at PEM September 14, 2010 - January 9, 2011 www.pem.org
Sculptures en bronze patiné - Indochine, XIXe siècle.
Sculpture en bronze patiné - Indochine, XIXe siècle.
Estimation : 200/300€
NB: Le sujet est certainement Laozi.
Sculpture en bronze patiné - Indochine, XIXe siècle.
Estimation : 200/300€
Vente aux enchères le samedi 31 juillet à Coutances par Sarl Hôtel Des Ventes de Coutances, 62, rue Gambetta 50200 Coutances. Tél. : 02.33.19.01.80 - Fax : 02.33.19.01.81 - Email : eboureau@wanadoo.fr
A Broadsword With Earlier Scottish Blade sold for £10,800 at Bonhams
A Fine And Rare English Silver-Hilted Broadsword With Earlier Scottish Blade; London Silver Hallmarks For 1705, Maker's Mark Of Thomas Vicaridge; photo Bonhams
LONDON.- A broadsword dating from 1705, with a much older Scottish blade from the 14th Century, passed down through the Douglas family to Sir Alec Douglas Home of the Hirsel, former British Prime Minister, sold for £10,800 at Bonhams sale of Antique Arms and Armour, on July 28th.
The inscriptions and heart referred to on the sword, hark back to a famous journey of Sir James Douglas to the Holy Land with King Robert the Bruce's heart which ended with Douglas's death fighting the Moors in Spain in 1330. The date of 1331 on the blade is almost certainly commemorative.
The story of this crusade with the heart of Robert the Bruce became part of the Douglas family history and the heart on this sword recalls the actual earlier sword carried by James Douglas on the ill-fated crusade to the Holy Land which ended in Moorish Spain.
Robert the Bruce’s body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, and his heart in Melrose Abbey. His embalmed heart was taken on a crusade to the Holy Land by his lieutenant and friend Sir James Douglas, but only reached Moorish Granada where it became a talisman for the Scottish contingent at the Battle of Teba.
This fine and rare English silver-hilted broadsword from the Douglas family bears the maker's mark of Thomas Vicaridge. It carries an Imperial crown and a crowned lion rampant between the inscription 'Pro Rege Et Regno Anno 1331', and on the other with a similar panel enclosing one of the devices of the Douglas family, a wild man (wodewose) with a heart on his left breast between the inscription 'For Strength In Stier This [the heart] I Bier' (for strength in battle this heart I bear).
From August 17-20 Bonhams will be holding its annual Scottish Sale in Edinburgh at 22 Queen Street, which offers a cross section of all the Scottish fine arts and antiques.
The broadsword dating from 1705 sold for £10,800. Photo: Bonhams.
Yona Friedman, Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, "Etc. Balkis Island" @ Centre international d´art et du paysage,
Issu de la collaboration de deux artistes, Yona Friedman, grand théoricien de l'architecture et Jean-Baptiste Decavèle, photographe et vidéaste, ce projet inédit réalise la transposition d'une géographie réelle (celle d'une île du Grand Nord), sur l'île de Vassivière.
Les visiteurs sont invités à découvrir la cartographie imaginaire de Balkis island, ponctuée d'installations monumentales, à l'extérieur et à l'intérieur du Centre d'art, de maquettes, de photographies ou encore d'images en mouvement.
L'exposition présente un univers marqué par les «utopies réalisables» fondatrices de la pensée de l'architecte, et par son iconographie toute personnelle constituée d'un bestiaire de licornes exprimant des symboles d'idéal de vie.
Les images de Jean-Baptiste Decavèle sont partie intégrante des structures ou des dessins de Yona Friedman, conçues depuis le début de leur collaboration pour créer une œuvre commune spécifique. L'île de Balkis est ainsi la réalisation de la construction d'un monde, d'une structure que l'on ne peut appréhender par avance, mais que les visiteurs découvriront au moment où ils arriveront à Vassivière et deviendront les habitants de ce lieu.
Le nom de l'île a été créé en mémoire de Balkis, le chien de Yona Friedman, auquel sont dédiées de nombreuses publications sur l'urbanisme, comme L'ordre compliqué, Vous avez un chien.
L'île a surgi par un concours de circonstance qui a lié les deux protagonistes dans une collaboration inattendue: la mort de Balkis et les images prises par Jean-Baptiste Decavèle lors de l'un de ses voyages sur les traces de l'expédition menée par Sir John Franklin en 1848 dans le Passage Nord-Ouest entre le Groenland et le Détroit de Béring.
Depuis deux ans, Yona Friedman et Jean-Baptiste Decavèle travaillent à la création de ce territoire et aux possibles structures architectoniques de l'île qu'ils imaginent, au départ, positionnées vers Somerset, dans le Grand-Nord canadien.
Le projet part des photographies réalisées par Jean-Baptiste Decavèle sur la surface polaire. Balkis Island fait partie de cette géographie faite de territoires difficiles à identifier, où la narration disparaît dans le vide des lieux et les traces de l'histoire se font rares. Ces terres sont caractérisées par de forts intérêts géopolitiques et sont au centre d'un débat de géostratégie.
A cette géographie s'ajoute un univers cher à Yona Friedman, un bestiaire de licornes, fait de personnages aux corps et aux expressions humaines qui expriment quinze utopies fondamentales: le respect de la nature, la fraternité, l'égalité, la liberté, la parole libre, les droits de l'enfant, l'éducation, la santé pour tous, la liberté sexuelle, la laïcité, l'art libre, le revenu garanti, la justice, le droit au logement et l'autogestion.
Yona Friedman considère que les animaux sont, socialement parlant, supérieurs aux hommes et leur société est au summum du développement, à la différence de celles des hommes qui est dans une phase de développement.
Pour Vassivière, l'artiste a créé la Licorne Eiffel, une sculpture éphémère qui occupe l'espace entier devant le Centre international d'art et du paysage, tracée à terre avec une substance minérale, le carbonate, et uniquement visible dans sa totalité du sommet du phare de Aldo Rossi qui domine l'île. La silhouette du chien Balkis qui joue à distance de la Licorne a été réalisée en faisant pousser des graines de Sarrasin.
La Licorne Eiffel représente une paisible licorne anthropomorphe, aux allures féminines qui semblent tenir dans la main droite le Centre d'art. La référence à la civilisation Incas est explicite tant son imaginaire est véhiculé à travers la figuration zoomorphe et anthropomorphe entourée par un labyrinthe de formes géométriques, comme on peut encore le voir dans le Sud du Pérou sur les hauts plateaux de Nazca.
Le corps élancé de la Licorne Eiffel se termine avec une corne qui rappelle la tour construite par Gustave Eiffel et comme celle-ci mesure 324 mètres.
Le poignet gauche de l'animal chimérique est orné par un bracelet de modules en plexiglas dessinés sur l'idée des Musées dans la rue.
Le Musée dans la rue est l'exemple d'une structure typique du travail de Friedman, qui peut être activée, modifiée et complétée par qui l'utilise. Plateforme publique, c'est un espace ouvert à la discussion sur la fonction du musée, sur l'œuvre d'art
publique et sur l'importance de la participation sociale qui représente une tentative de créer des «musées démocratiques».
Pour Yona Friedman, il y a pas d'objet qui ne peut pas être considéré œuvre d'art. Tous ceux qui sentent le besoin d'être artiste doivent avoir la possibilité d'utiliser un code simple et improvisé pour pouvoir faire passer leur message, car l'art se génère dans l'improvisation, comme l'intelligence. A Vassivière, le débat tend à s'élargir encore vers l'évolution du musée en plein air et plus précisément au caractère statistique des parcs de sculptures.
05 juil.-25 oct. 2009. Centre international d´art et du paysage, Ile de Vassivière, 23460 Royere De Vassiviere - communication@ciapiledevassiviere.com - http://www.ciapiledevassiviere.com
"THROUGH LABYRINTHS" @ Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona
BARCELONA.- The labyrinth as a construction and a symbol is present in many cultural traditions. As explained by Eco (author of the foreword to the exhibition catalogue), the thousands of years of history of this figure reveal the fascination it has always held for humankind, representing as it does an aspect of the human condition: there are countless situations that are very easy to get into, but more difficult to extract oneself from.
This exhibition, scripted by Ramon Espelt, curated and designed by Oscar Tusquets, with Jorge Wagensberg as advisor, reviews the concept and representation of the labyrinth throughout history, making a clear distinction between single-path labyrinths and mazes, labyrinths with a choice of paths, and reflecting on the relevance of this element and different practices and uses today.
The exhibition comprises a series of very varied spaces illustrated by works with a variety of different sources, formats, authors and periods, such as archaeological pieces, engravings, photographs, maps, screenings and models, plus specially created audiovisual, animated and interactive pieces.
1. Plaza
A shade structure will be created in the Pati de les Dones courtyard, with the floor plan of a rectangular labyrinth. The shade structure will be suspended over the arches at the entrance and comprise a system of cables supporting elements that will form the layout of the labyrinth. The shadows cast by this structure on the ground and the walls of the courtyard will form a labyrinth that changes with the sun’s position, which visitors can observe and walk around.
2. Unicursal Labyrinths
The layout of this space will be intricate, but there will only be one way out, in keeping with the aim of all unicursal labyrinths: the longest route on the smallest surface area (the divisions will be no more than a metre high).
An initial distinction will be made between conceptual labyrinths, drawn on stone or paper, which we can follow visually or trace with a finger, and labyrinths that we can physically enter and walk around. This sector will include stone engravings; the Cretan labyrinth represented on coins and Greek pottery; Roman mosaics; labyrinths from Gothic cathedrals; labyrinths as memorials; facsimiles of medieval manuscripts and various books from the 16th to 19th centuries that contain representations of the labyrinth.
It also presents the work of contemporary artists such as Robert Morris, Terry Fox and Richard Long, for whom historical labyrinths are a source of inspiration, bringing the representation of the unicursal labyrinth up to the present day.
This space ends with a room devoted to the figure of the Minotaur and the relationship between the labyrinth and dance.
3. Crisis in the Concept of the Unicursal Labyrinth
This section will analyze issues such as the uselessness of Ariadne’s thread in a unicursal labyrinth. It also focuses on Giovanni Fontana (15th c.), the creator of the first intentionally designed mazes that offered the freedom to choose a route at various turning points and the possibility of getting lost after reaching various dead ends.
The maze raises the issue of the need for Ariadne’s thread to find one’s way out, as an “external memory” that helps us to retrace our steps to the entrance to the labyrinth. A room will be given over to the relation between labyrinth and memory, with an ants’ nest as a central feature that explores the theme from the viewpoint of the natural sciences.
4. Mazes
As opposed to the unicursal labyrinth, the layout of this space will offer a range of alternatives, possibilities of choice and dead ends, with walls extending above eye level, unlike the unicursal labyrinth, in which the divisions are lower.
Here, the entrance centres on the hedge labyrinths that were planted in numerous aristocratic gardens in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. The layout divides into different rooms that will develop themes associated with real places (the labyrinth at Versailles) or creators (writers, architects, artists: Borges, Randoll Coate, Patrick Ireland, Michael Ayrton, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Saul Steinberg, etc.) whose body of work features the theme of the labyrinth.
This space will also include a walk-through maze of mirrors and a room with an audiovisual installation that looks at the role of the labyrinth as a space of life in the cinema.
Artist: Michael Ayrton, Jorge Luis Borges, Antonella Bussanich, Randoll Coate, Nick Coombe, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Umberto Eco, Michele Emmer, Terry Fox, Martha Graham, Richard Long, Luis Longhi, Robert Morris, Lika Mutal, Ben Nicholson, Brian O’Doherty/ Patrick Ireland, Pierre Rosenstiehl, Ramón de Soto, Saul Steinberg, Josep Maria Subirachs, Oscar Tusquets, Jorge Wagensberg, Teri Wehn-Damisch
Labyrinth II (Josep Ma. Subirachs, 1993). Col·lecció Espai Subirachs, Barcelona.
Jason Hawkes. Hatfield House's Labyrinth, Hertfordshire © Jason Hawkes.
