Cette été, j’ai vu beaucoup d’affiches pour un expo que j’ai trouvé intrigué. C’est le title de l’expo (« Back Side / Dos à la Mode ») et le photo qui m’ont intéressé.
This summer, I kept seeing a poster for an exhibition that I found intriguing. What intrigued me was the title (« Back Side / Fashion from Behind”) and the gorgeous photograph by Jeanloup Sieff, featuring the alluring back of a top and skirt by French designer Martine Sitbon. I mistakenly thought the model was Audrey Hepburn....it's Kim Inslinski, about whom I know nothing.
The Martine Sitbon top and skirt as displayed in the exhibit - looks much better on Ms.Inslineki!
L’expo est au Musée Bourdelle qui est un musée j’ai voulu visiter. Je ne connais pas le sculpteur Antoine Bourdelle, un artiste français qui a travaillé à la fin du 19eme siècle et au début du 20eme siècle. Il était l’étudiant de Rodin et a travaillé dans son atelier pendant presque 15 années. Il est plus connu pour ses sculptures monumentales. Ce qui m’a intéressé est que le musée est construit autour des anciens ateliers que l’artiste a occupé de 1884 à 1929.
The exhibit is at the Bourdelle Museum, a museum I have wanted to visit for a while. I didn’t know the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, a French artist who worked at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. He was a student of Rodin and worked in Rodin’s studio for almost 15 years. Bourdelle is best known for his monumental sculptures. The museum interested me because it’s built around the artist’s studios where he worked from 1884 until he died in 1929.
Atelier of Bourdelle
In the atelier
Atelier
Inner garden
Bust hiding in the inner garden
Hydrangeas and columns in the inner garden
Wall drawing in inner garden (artist unknown!)
Visitors relaxing in front courtyard
Le Palais Galliera (le musée de la mode de la ville de Paris qui est fermé pour travaux) présente l’exposition hors les murs au musée Bourdelle. L’exposition déploie du musée. Les modèles présentés établissent un dialogue entre mode et sculpture et offrent un regard inédit sur les oeuvres de Bourdelle.
The exhibit was organized by Le Palais Galliera which is the fashion museum of the city of Paris and is currently closed for renovations. In addition to the bulk of the exhibit located in the special exhibition space, sprinkled throughout the Grand Hall (containing plaster casts of some of Bourdelle’s major works) and his old studios are designer dresses which, strategically placed, establish a dialogue between fashion and
sculpture and offer up a new way to see the works of Bourdelle.
Karl Lagerfeld, CHLOÉ, 1983-84
The guard explains.....
COMME DES GARÇONS, 1997
Le catalogue de l’exposition dit :
« Dans notre société obsédée par le visage, "Back Side / Dos à la mode" est un sujet original et inattendu. En abordant les liens du corps au vêtement d’un point de vue social et psychologique, l’exposition interroge la perception que nous avons de notre dos et de celui des autres.
Le dos rappelle à l’homme ses propres limites : il se dérobe à la vue et en partie au toucher. Cependant, la mode ne cesse de l’orner, de le charger ou de le dénuder. Sur cette zone la plus plane de notre corps, messages et motifs se déploient en toute lisibilité sans que nous croisions jamais les regards qui leur sont accordés.
Du sillage d’une traîne de cour à la charge d’un sac à dos, de la sensualité d’un décolleté à la contrainte d’une fermeture, l’exposition propose un parcours thématique d’une centaine de silhouettes et d’accessoires du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours issus des collections de Galliera. »
From the exhibition catalogue:
" In a society that is obsessed with people’s faces, "Back Side / Fashion from Behind" is an original and unexpected theme. By addressing our body’s relationship to clothing from a social and psychological point of view, the exhibition questions the perception we have of our own and other people’s backs.
The back is a reminder of our limitations: it is hidden from view and to some extent from touch. Yet, fashion consistently decorates it, burdens it, or reveals it. On this flattest part of our body, messages and patterns are unambiguously displayed without our ever seeing the glances they attract.
The back in fashion: from the majestic train of a court gown to the weight of a backpack; the sensuality of a plunging backline to complicated fastening systems. This exceptional exhibition of clothing and accessories from the collections of the Palais Galliera presents over a hundred items from the 18th century up to the present day."
At entrance to exhibit...what I don't see is "My aching back...."
Dress and skirt by YOHJI YAMAMOTO (1996-97) next to Bourdelle's Beethoven in the wind with drapery (1904-08)
From the back.....
Dress by THIERRY MUGLER (1984-85) next to Bourdelle's Hannibal's First Victory (1885)
Evening coat by CHARLES JAMES (1937) next to Bourdelle's Hannibal's First Victory (1885)
My favorite:
JOHN GALLIANO Sheath dress with 51 buttons (1998-99) next to Bourdelle's Woman, arm around her back (1909)
