Ann-Marie James – L’Origine du monde

Richard Saltoun Gallery è lieta di presentare un nuovo corpo di opere dell’artista Ann-Marie James, ex-residente della British School at Rome, ispirato a L’Origine du monde (1866), il famigerato scandaloso dipinto di Gustave Courbet, insieme ad opere tratte da tre serie di dipinti: Museé Imaginaire, Roma e Forum.

Comunicato stampa

Richard Saltoun Gallery is happy to welcome you to our Roman venue for the opening of Ann-Marie James' solo show.

As a former British School at Rome residence artist, Ann-Marie James' work is intimately tied to Rome. Her artistic production uniquely explores two main themes: one is the idea of change, of metamorphoses; the other is a connection or dialogue with art history, via the use of found imagery and texts.

Her new body of work is inspired by L'Origine du monde (1866), the scandalous painting by Gustave Courbet, that marked the first time that female genitalia had been depicted in such a blatant fashion, deployed of any religious or mythological context. James takes this iconic painting and abstracts it until is a completely unidentifiable abstract composition. Similarly, Rome series - that she started during the residence at the BSR - take as starting point the representation of draped cloth in Roman marble sculptures. Here too, the initial figurative elements are lost due to the several juxtapositions of paint layers. While in Museé Imaginaire, James realises almost an act of detournement directly onto the pages of a first edition of Andre Malraux’s eponymous publication from 1952. In 1961 Malraux appointed the painter Balthus as director of Villa Medici in Rome, and together they profoundly reformed the Academy. Malraux’s book brings together imagery of art and antiquities from all over the world into one tome, calling into question the “home” of art and the role of museums, as well as representation and reproduction in art history.