Dear friends and followers,
We wish you a happy, prosperous, creative, full of fun moments and moments that will be printed in your memory for ever, for the year 2015.
May it be a great year for all of us personally and in general.
#StoMouseio
Happy New Year 2015
#StoMouseio
Visitors have the opportunity to admire the impressive Lego Acropolis model that was recently donated to the Acropolis Museum by the University of Sydney’s Nicholson Museum, following the initiative of Michael Turner, Senior Curator at the Nicholson Museum. The model contains more than 120.000 Lego bricks and took about 300 hours to build by Ryan McNaught. This reconstruction of the Acropolis has already attracted more than 100.000 visitors at the Nicholson Museum. The Acropolis Museum is preparing children’s programs in 2015 which will allow young visitors too to experiment with similar bricks. The model is located on the Museum’s second floor, in the area of the ‘Lab’ next to the restaurant. Entry to the Lab is free.
The Lego Acropolis model. Photography: Giorgos Vitsaropoulos
Source: The Acropolis Museum Athens
2014 is almost gone and it is of great interest to find out, which were the exhibitions that caught the eye, and most people searched for them, wanting to learn more information regarding them.
According to the #StoMouseio friends and followers these are the 10 most interesting, innovating and worth visiting Museum and Gallery Exhibitions of the Year 2014:
Out of the 10 spots, two belong to museums in the Netherlands and one to museums from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and United States of America.
See the invaluable contribution women have made to Canadian science and technology. The Canadian Women of Innovation virtual exhibition is a partnership between the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation and Engineers Canada.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Canada, Kim Allen (FEC, P.Eng.):
“The Canadian Women of Innovation virtual exhibition is an excellent testimonial to the great contributions of Canadian women to engineering, and to our lives in general. We are proud to have worked with the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation to raise Canadians’ awareness of these heroes. They are great models for our young girls to look up to.”
Canada Science and Technology Museum || Virtual exhibition: Canadian Women of Innovation
Source: Canada Science and Technology Museum
The party of the year is back!
After a year off, Studio 54, THEMUSEUM’s annual fundraiser known for over the top entertainment, energetic crowd, show stopping surprises and breathtaking performances is back once again.
THEMUSEUM, Ontario, party, fundraiser, Studio 54
Source: THEMUSEUM
Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972) was a skilled draughtsman, book illustrator, tapestry design and muralist, but he is best-known for his prints that reflect his fascination with order, symmetry and spatial logic.
Featuring 54 works drawn from the Gallery’s extensive collection of M.C. Escher prints, this exhibition presents the various themes that fascinated this unique artist.
The works selected for M.C. Escher: The Mathemagician, trace the artist’s career, beginning with the rare woodcut Eight Heads (1922), which illustrates his early interest in patterns of interlocking repetitive shapes, a kind of representation that would later make him famous.
The exhibition also includes examples of the different printmaking processes in which Escher was proficient, from woodcuts (Circular Limit III, 1959), to lithographs (Bond of Union, 1956), and even mezzotint (Mummified Frog, 1946), an extremely laborious technique. Visitors will discover his passion for the Italian landscape (Bonifacio, Corsica, 1928), for perception (Print Gallery, 1956) and for impossible architectures (Relativity, 1953).
Organized by the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Alberta.
M.C. Escher
Hand with Reflecting Sphere, January 1935
lithograph on silver coated wove paper, 43.5 x 25 cm; image: 31.8 x 21.4 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1989
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
M.C. Escher’s “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” © 2014 The M.C. Escher Company-The Netherlands. All rights reserved. http://www.mcescher.com
Photo © NGC
Eight Heads
M.C. Escher
1922
© Cordon Art B.V. – Baarn – Netherlands. Used by Permission. All rights reserved.
45.4 x 61 cm; image: 35.2 x 54.2 cm
woodcut on laid japan paper
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1982
National Gallery of Canada (no. 28199)
Circle Limit III, December 1959
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
woodcut in black, rust, green, blue, and orange on laid japan paper
46.9 x 51 cm; image: 41.6 cm diameter
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1982
National Gallery of Canada (no. 28211)
Bond of Union, April 1956
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
lithograph on wove paper
39.9 x 43.7 cm; stone: 25.7 x 33.9 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1988
National Gallery of Canada (no. 30174)
M.C. Escher
Sky and Water I, June 1938
woodcut on laid japan paper, 48.9 x 50 cm; image: 43.8 x 43.8 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
M.C. Escher’s “Sky and Water I” © 2014 The M.C. Escher Company-The Netherlands.
All rights reserved. http://www.mcescher.com
Photo © NGC
Relativity, July 1953
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
lithograph on cream laid japan paper
39.3 x 40.3 cm; image: 27.9 x 28.9 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1990
National Gallery of Canada (no. 35600)
Print Gallery, May 1956
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
lithograph on wove paper
41.4 x 40.4 cm; image: 31.9 x 31.8 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1989
National Gallery of Canada (no. 30518)
Bonifacio, Corsica, October 1928
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
woodcut on laid japan paper
82.6 x 49.9 cm; image: 71.1 x 41.4 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1985
National Gallery of Canada (no. 29452)
Mummified Frog, August 1946
M.C. Escher
Dutch, 1898 – 1972
mezzotint on laid paper
23.3 x 29.6 cm; plate: 13.9 x 17.6 cm
Gift of George Escher, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, 1985
National Gallery of Canada (no. 29458)
Source: National Gallery of Canada
Distinguished as one of Canada’s first artists to achieve international recognition, Jack Bush’s life (1909–1977) is a fascinating story of a mid-century commercial artist turned abstract painter. His paintings trace a journey toward creative independence, and provide many new and delightful vantage points onto the history of abstract art. The Jack Bush retrospective spans five decades and paints a full picture of the artist’s achievements, including his paintings, drawings and commercial illustrations. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue bring forward fascinating sections from the artist’s unpublished diaries, lending even more vibrancy to a story filled with brilliance and colour.
Jack Bush, Down Sweep, 29 – 30 June 1958, oil on canvas, 190.5 x 243.2 cm (75 x 95.75 in.). Collection of Vanac Development Corp., Vancouver (All photographs by Michael Cullen, TPG Digital Art Services/© Estate of Jack Bush / SODRAC (2014) except where noted)
Jack Bush, Bonnet, 21 – 22 May 1961, oil on canvas, 246.3 x 209.2 cm (97 x 82.38 in.) Private Collection
Jack Bush Ex on Spring Green, June 1974 acrylic on canvas, 160 x 195.5 cm (63.25 x 77 in.) Collection of H. Arnold and Blema Steinberg
Jack Bush Tight Sash, July 1963 oil on canvas, 108.6 × 176.5 cm (42.75 × 69.5 in.) Collection of Elizabeth A. and Richard J. Currie
Jack Bush Yesterday, 1947 oil on Masonite, white lead ground, 121.9 x 91.4 cm (48 x 36 in.) Jack Bush Heritage Corporation
Jack Bush. Chopsticks, 1977. Acrylic on canvas, 140.3 × 415.9 cm (55.25 × 163.75 in.). Private collection. © Estate of Jack Bush / SODRAC (2014). Photo: Michael Cullen, TPG Digital Art Services
Big A, November 1968
acrylic on canvas, 228.6 × 144.7 cm (90 × 57 in.)
National Gallery of Canada
© Estate of Jack Bush / SODRAC (2014)
Photo © NGC
Source: National Gallery of Canada
As part of the celebration of the 250-year anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum, the “Francis Bacon and the Art of the Past” exhibition is presented in the General Staff building starting 7 December 2014.
This exhibition prepared by the State Hermitage Museum together with the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, and University of East Anglia takes place within the framework of the the UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014. The exhibition presents thirteen paintings of Francis Bacon from the collection of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, from the collection of Lisa and Robert Sainsbury, who were the first and the most generous philanthropists providing Bacon with significant moral and financial support in the difficult years for the artist. The paintings were made mainly in the 1950’s – early 1960’s, and they are the basis around which the rest of the artist’s works were collected. The paintings from the Tate Gallery, London; Art Gallery and Museum in Aberdeen, Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, United States; Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, as well as the paintings from private collections are also displayed at the exhibition. The exhibited “Portrait of Innocent X” by Velasquez, one of the versions of the picture in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery, comes from the collection of Lord Douro. The image of the Pope created by the great Spanish painter was a source of inspiration for many paintings by Bacon.
The exhibition is perfectly complemented by the works of art from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum: from Egyptian art and specimens of Greek and Roman sculpture to paintings by Velazquez and Rembrandt, Matisse and Picasso, sculptures by Michelangelo and Rodin. Francis Bacon, like many other artists, looks back at his predecessors, examines and uses the experience of the great masters of the past and his contemporaries. The materials from his studio in South Kensington, London, now held in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, let us glimpse into the world of the artist, to get acquainted with his creative method, to identify the sources of individual images of his works, in which ancient, classical and contemporary art has played such an important role.
The British artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) is one of the greatest masters of the XX century. His works take an important place in the halls of modern art of museums worldwide, private collectors pay fortunes for his paintings. Numerous exhibitions are dedicated to his work, and it became an object of study by researchers (art historians, psychologists, and philosophers). Like any major artistic phenomenon, it reflects not only the complex inner world of the artist, but is also a model of the time and circumstances in which he lived and worked.
Bacon was born in Dublin in a family of a military man who descended from an ancient, but impoverished family (among his distant ancestors was Francis Bacon, the famous philosopher of the XVI century). However, despite the noble origin, the artist did not even receive a formal education, he was prevented by poor health and frequent moving of the family due to World War I, and then to the Irish War of Independence. Because of serious disagreements with his father, he left home at the age of seventeen. In 1926, he travelled to Berlin where he first became acquainted with films by Fritz Lang and Sergei Eisenstein. As he later admitted, these films made such a strong impression on him in his formative years, that they were often reflected in his work later when he was trying to create “the best image of a human scream”. Visitors can see a picture from “The Screaming Pope” series (Study of the “Head of the Screaming Pope”, 1952, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven), inspired by the scene with the nurse at the famous Odessa stairs from the movie “Battleship Potemkin” and by illustrations from the “very beautiful, hand-painted book on diseases of the mouth”. According to the artist himself, he could not surpass Eisenstein in his numerous experiments.
Bacon started painting after visiting the Picasso exhibition in Paris in 1928. His early attempts to paint in oil were combined with work as an interior designer, which was pretty successful. “Crucifixion” (1933, Moedemi collection, London) was one of the first paintings created under the influence of Picasso, it drew the attention of critics. It was very different from his other works on the same subject which he considered very important in his work, believing that “there is no more appropriate scene for the expression of human feelings”. There are only few remaining works dated in the 1930’s, since the subsequent failures forced the artist to destroy many of them. He considered the triptych “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion” (1944, Tate Gallery, London) as his first mature work. In autumn and winter 1949, his first solo exhibition was held in London, he was considered as one of Britain’s leading artists, and his works became an integral part of contemporary art exhibitions worldwide. Starting in 1961, the artist settled in South Kensington, London, where he stayed until his death and where he created the famous large triptychs, which became his favourite compositional forms (“Three Studies of the Human Body”, 1970, the Ordovas collection, England). He died in Madrid in 1992.
Bacon had no professional art education, he considered Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Titian, Ingres and Velázquez his teachers. The image of Pope Innocent X created by the Spanish painter (1650, Doria Pamphilij collection, Rome) was persistently present in the works of Bacon for many years (“Pope I. Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X”, 1951, City Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen). At the exhibition the visitors can also see the bust version of the painting by Velazquez from the collection of Lord Wellington, provided to the Hermitage by its current owner Marquis of Douro (Apsley House, London). Bacon believed that “it is one of the greatest portraits ever painted” and admitted that he was “just obsessed with the Pope, because he literally chased me, giving rise to the most contradictory feelings and touching different mind areas… I think the whole thing is in his gorgeous colours”. He studied the technique of imposition of strokes and richness of the palette from the great painters of the past, trying to recreate reality by paint fury. He wanted that in his case the methods of the old masters acted quite differently, “not like before, not for the purposes for which they were originally created”.
Always feeling dissatisfaction, he called almost every work of his a study. He often destroyed his works completely or partially. The exhibition presents a picture with a cut-out piece and canvasses which he used as a palette (Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin). The human figures and faces depicted by Bacon are usually deformed, twisted and distorted. But those whom he painted, recognized their similarity to the image and the accuracy of the reflection of their personality (the exhibition presents several portraits of Lisa and Robert Sainsbury, Isabel Rawsthorne). According to the artist, when creating images, he surrendered to the occasion and imagination. His was little interested in the way a body looks, it was important to convey what and how the body feels. By distortion he tried to give greater reality to the imaged object. Rembrandt served for him as an example of reality transmission by the wonderful technique in which an important role was played by the stroke texture and the contrast between light and shadow. He studied the self-portraits of the great Dutchman, noting how his face changes from time to time and how “this difference affects different areas of our senses”. Bacon regularly painted his own reflection in the mirror (“Portrait of a Man” 1960, Sainsbury collection, Norwich), “observing the work of death”. The phantom of the inevitability of death lurks in his “Study for Portrait II (after the Life Mask of William Blake)” (1955, Tate Gallery), a replica of which was kept by the artist (now in the Hugh Lane Gallery). Obviously, he was interested in posthumous Ancient Greek and Roman funerary masks and portraits. A variety of sheets with their reproductions torn out of books were at his hand in the studio (now in the Hugh Lane Gallery). Numerous “Heads” and portraits of Bacon do not correlate so much with oil paintings, as they do with Egyptian masks and sculpted busts familiar from Roman antiquity. It is impossible not to draw attention to the love of the artist to incomplete sculptural forms and fragments which excited his imagination, appearing capriciously in his works.
Francis Bacon did not sculpt, however, the relationship of his work with sculpture is unusually deep. In the study “Imaginary Portrait of Pope Pius XII” (1955, Sainsbury collection) one can obviously see a fixed form fossil characteristic of the sculptures of Egyptian pharaohs, for example, a figure of Amenemhat III (the State Hermitage Museum). One of the main sources of artistic images for Bacon was the work of Michelangelo, the greatest representative of the classical tradition. The “Crouching Boy” from the State Hermitage collection was cited by Bacon almost openly in the painting “Two Figures in a Room” (1959, Sainsbury collection). In other paintings the images of Bacon’s figures refer us to “Day” and “Night” figures created by Michelangelo for the Medici tombs in Florence (the exhibition presents terracotta copies of the XVI century from the State Hermitage collection). The artist was not necessarily familiar with the originals being content with the illustrations in books and albums (now in the Hugh Lane Gallery).
The art of Van Gogh became a powerful source of inspiration for Bacon. Bacon created a series of paintings inspired by the works and letters of Van Gogh to his brother, Theo, in which Van Gogh expressed his attitude to copying paintings of predecessors. Being sick, he was comforted by copying black-and-white reproductions of Delacroix and Millet, which he used as a source for stories. He explained to his brother that he improvised with colour trying to remember their paintings. Bacon’s own interpretation of Van Gogh sketches can be seen in the “Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh I” (1956, Sainsbury collection) and “Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh IV” (1957, Tate Gallery).
A dialogue with the art of the prior masters in which Bacon drew inspiration and artistic techniques is one of the very important aspects of his work. The rich and varied collection of the State Hermitage Museum allows showing of the paintings of Bacon from England, Scotland, Ireland and the United States, alongside with the works of sculpture and painting from the era of Egyptian pharaohs and finishing with the works of Bacon’s senior contemporaries – Picasso, Matisse, Soutine – not in order to strike the visitors with direct analogies, but to make them think about the enduring value of great works of art, about inexhaustible resources that they provide for inspiration, and about those creative processes and interpretations that they generate in an extraordinary creative personality.
Archival materials from Bacon’s studio (photos, books, sheets torn out of art albums and magazines, newspapers, damaged and incompletes paintings) as well photos of the studio made by Perry Ogden, recording its mess, provide insights into the psychology of the artist and are partly a key to the understanding of his working methods. Bacon admitted that “in this chaos it feels like home”, that chaos created images in him. He compared the studio to a chemical laboratory. It was for him “a place for experiment, creation and destruction”. Photos and album sheets were scattered on the floor of the studio especially for stepping on them. Crumpled, broken, consciously torn and crookedly reconnected with paper clips, they took unexpected forms, unusual connections, they were combined and transformed into something new, forcing the imagination of the artist to work. According to Bacon, “it gives new meanings, for example, to a painting by Rembrandt, which he did not put in it”. The collection of the artist numbers about three hundred prints made by the photographer John Deakin, to whom Bacon ordered the pictures of his friends. He used the prints as a tool, they helped him to give “some features” and “details”. Most of the prints were torn and crumpled, like all his other valued visual sources, in this form they were of particular interest.
The materials for this exhibition were carefully chosen from the rich collection of the Hugh Lane gallery in Dublin. They were given to Hugh Lane by Bacon’s estate after his death along with his vast collection of his own works, his expansive library and everything else that was stored in the tiny apartment at Reece Muse, where his studio was located on the first floor. During his lifetime, this strictly personal space that perfectly reflects the artist’s vivid personality and on which his creativity which defies understanding is still imprinted had very few visitors from the outside.
Curators of the exhibition: Dr. Thierry Morel, UK, and Elizaveta Renne, Ph.D. in Art History, senior fellow at the History of Applied Arts Department of the State Hermitage Museum.
A special illustrated scientific catalogue was prepared for the exhibition by Fontanka Publishing House, 2014).
The exhibition is supported by the UK Friends of the Hermitage
After the exhibition closes at the State Hermitage Museum in the summer of 2015, it will be presented at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia.
Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X’, 1953 (oil on canvas. FRANCIS BACON
Francis Bacon, ‘Three Studies for a Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne
Francis Bacon, Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne, 1966.
Study of Isabel Rawsthorne
Francis Bacon
1965
Oil on canvas
Study of Isabel Rawsthorne
Francis Bacon
1965
Oil on canvas
Source: The State Hermitage Museum
The smooth shapes of the posture of the nude male figure, its flowing drapery suggest that the sculpture depicts a river god – an allegory of the Athenian river Ilissos.
The sculpture was located on the corner of the West pediment of the Parthenon. In general, a multi-figured composition depicted scenes from the contest for control of Attica held between Athena and Poseidon. Each of them performed a miracle: Poseidon struck his trident on a rock and a salty stream poured from it, Athena struck her spear on the ground and planted the first olive tree, she was awarded the victory. On the East pediment of the Parthenon was presented a scene of Athena’s birth, when she came out from the forehead of her father, Zeus, already adult, fully armed and armoured.
The Acropolis of Athens was intentionally mapped to the sacred Mount Olympus in the scenes on both pediments. In general, the Parthenon sculptures create an idea of Athens as the best city worthy of divine protection and respect on the part of the inhabitants of other regions of Greece. At that time Athens was the city with the most advanced democratic system in the vast ecumene. By the decision of the People’s Assembly, the funds for the city development were annually allocated from the city treasury, and the treasury was kept in the Parthenon. Pericles stood at the head of Athens; he foresaw that the city would become a model for the entire Greek world. In the year 431, in the famous “Funeral Oration” at the funeral of the Athenian soldiers who died during the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles accused Sparta of being a closed and militarized city that he contrasted to the freedom of Athens, which he called “the school of Hellas”.
To create living flesh and flowing drapery of stone means to breathe life into the cold marble. The carver who made the figures personifying the Ilissos River evoked in our imagination an image of movement at the same time based on a full understanding of the nature of this expressive power.
The sculptures that had adorned the Parthenon were transferred to the trustees of the British Museum by the UK government in 1816. Since then they have been freely available to many millions of visitors. For the first time ever, a part of this priceless monument is represented in a different interior and surrounded by other sculptures, so the 250-year anniversary of the Hermitage is the best reason for such an event. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, said, “This sculpture speaks of the world of Socrates and Plato. A great work of art, it embodies the belief in the supreme value of rational debate among free citizens. There can be no better celebration of the Enlightenment ideals which the British Museum and the Hermitage have shared for 250 years”.
The Hermitage has a vast collection of classical art. However, the collection of ancient sculptures consists mainly of Roman works, including the beautiful Roman copies of Greek originals. Thus, the sculpture from the workshop of Phidias created for decoration of the Parthenon in the golden age of Athens, will allow the Hermitage guests to contemplate a cultural monument of world importance.
Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, said, “I am delighted that this important, beautiful and significant sculpture has been lent in celebration of our two museums’ shared values and will be seen alongside the permanent classical sculptures of the Hermitage.”
The British Museum
The British Museum opened to the public on 15 January 1759. It was the first state museum that laid the foundations for the European Enlightenment. It was conceived as a public encyclopaedia of scientific and art knowledge collected under one roof. The basis of its exposition was laid by a collection “of natural and man-made curiosities” that belonged to Sir Hans Sloane, the court physician of King George III.
As the collection was expanded, it became clear that the original building no longer fitted its scope. In this regard, in 1823, a building was designed in the Greek Revival style where the museum is located nowadays. Over time, the British Museum became a museum of world material and art culture presenting monuments from all corners of the Earth. The Ancient Greek architectural marbles are a recognized, especially valuable part of its collection. Among them are the sculptures exported at the beginning of the XIX century by Lord Elgin from the Acropolis in Athens. The English Parliament decided to allocate funds for their acquisition and to transfer these funds to the Board of Trustees of the Museum.
The Parthenon sculptures, considered in the XIX century as the top artistic achievement of mankind, were to become the main ornament of the ancient art collection. Paris of Napoleon announced itself as the new Rome. Upon acquisition of the Parthenon marbles just a year after the Battle of Waterloo, which occurred in 1815, London announced itself as the new Athens. This ancient city that gave the world the first example of a democratic system served as an example of the idea of a free society, and the Parthenon sculptures became a symbol of liberal values and political freedom.
Taken from the building of the temple, the sculptures of architectural finish became independent works of art. They caused such admiration that every European city, including St. Petersburg, considered it its duty to organise a demonstration of their casts. Nowadays, they go on meeting the original intent of the Enlightenment mission of the British Museum, that is, the idea of making the museum a place of concentration of all cultures, where everything is present, but nothing is preferred, where all religions are represented, but none of them is preached.
Curators of the exhibition: Anna A. Trofimova, Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities at the State Hermitage Museum, and Lesley Fitton, Head of the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum.
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg || Exhibition: A Masterpiece from the British Museum || until 18.01.2015, Ilissos statue, river god
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg || Exhibition: A Masterpiece from the British Museum || until 18.01.2015, Ilissos statue, river god
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg || Exhibition: A Masterpiece from the British Museum || until 18.01.2015, Ilissos statue, river god
Source: The State Hermitage Museum
The 2014 Christmas installation for the V&A Grand Entrance has been designed by British fashion designer Gareth Pugh.
‘Ceremony’ stands at over 4m high and mirrors the shape of the traditional Christmas evergreen tree. Nine tiered pyramids are clad in gold which collect around a central beacon of light to represent an abstract nativity. The arrangement of the mirrored pyramids suggests a gathering, highlighting the notion of community at the heart of the festive season. Various materials have been used in the tree’s creation including wood, fabric, acrylic and LED lights.
“The V&A is a true British icon and a guardian of our cultural heritage. It was an honour to be invited to take part in its festive celebrations. I hope our installation might provide a moment of reflection for those who visit over the next month, and perhaps even contribute a little to the magic of the season.”
– Gareth Pugh
Educated at London’s Central Saint Martins, Pugh lives and works in London. His work has been shown at Paris Fashion Week for the past six years. Known for a singular and compelling take on modern luxury, Pugh’s clothes have been described as wearable sculptures – experimental forms, volumes and fabrics are all signature to his ever evolving style. Pugh has worked with some of the most popular artists of our time, including Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. He showcased in the V&A’s Fashion in Motion series in 2007 and his designs are currently on display in the V&A’s Wedding Dresses 1775 – 2014 exhibition.
The 2014 Christmas Tree installation. Ceremony by Gareth Pugh © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Source: V&A
#StoMouseio 