25 March 2011

Sugimoto's History Lesson

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Sugimoto rekindles the dialogue between painting and the medium of mechanical reproduction. Sugimoto isolated wax figures from staged vignettes in waxworks museums, posed them in three-quarter-length view, and illuminated them to create haunting Rembrandt-esque portraits of historical figures, such as Henry VIII, Napoleon Bonaparte, Fidel Castro, and Princess Diana. His painterly renditions, lush with detail, recall the various paintings from which the wax figures were originally drawn. Through layers of reproduction—from subject to painting to wax statue to photograph—these images most consciously convey the collapsing of time and the retelling of history. taken from the Guggenheim here



  
Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.104. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





the Duke of Wellington by Robert Home





the WaxWorks at Tussuad's in LONDON

from picasa here






Napoleon Bonaparte, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.114. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





Napoleon by David





The artist's believes photography is a time machine,  preserving and picturing memory and time.







Jane Seymour, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.101. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





JANE SEYMOUR

 the Holbein portrait l,   r at Madame Tussuad's in London






Henry VIII, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.113. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





...putting the Light of the Holbein portraits of Henry and his six wives on the photographs of the Madame Tussuad figures enabled Sugimoto to create a portrait of the period.










 Anne of Cleves, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.105. © Hiroshi Sugimoto




ANNE of CLEVES
the Holbein portrait at left





 the 6 Wives of Henry the VIII by Sugimoto from historiful here
 Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.






Sugimoto's ELIZABETH in the home of designer Robert Couturier






 Elizabeth I, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.111. © Hiroshi Sugimoto





& where would we be without Wilde




Oscar Wilde, 1999. Gelatin silver print, edition 1/5, 58 3/4 x 47 inches (149.2 x 119.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin  2005.89. © Hiroshi Sugimoto







read more at pbs here



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8 comments:

  1. I could never get into Madamde Tussauds but somehow -the photographs bring them to life for me. Amazing!

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  2. Freaky, but totally captivating. I want all photos of me to be rendered in oils now.

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  3. A most intriguing posting, Gaye!

    I read that Napoleon loved that particular painting by David because it was such great propaganda. When he saw it finished, he said to David, "Now the French people will know that I work late into the night for them!"

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  4. Wow - I LOVE these - haunting indeed and so lifelike! The Oscar Wilde is particularly human-esque! I must go to the pbs site to read more- you have most definitely piqued my interest!!

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  5. I find these both riveting and disconcerting.

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  6. These have riveted me...I've been looking at them over and over and have been to the Guggenheim's site also...simply fascinating! The technique is masterful. The hands are what really make them real to me...I wish we could see Oscar's. And I could truly see a resemblance between Elizabeth and Henry...uncanny!
    Thank you...I'm passing this on to many.
    xo J~

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