Text by Yan Romanesky, guest curator:
«In art history, details have always played a vital role. They express a desire to see, scrutinize, and analyze a work of art in depth. Details usually serve as an educational tool for art historians to direct the gaze of readers or of an audience to an object, a character or texture that is significant in the comprehension of a piece. However, details are also used by numerous artists as inspiration during their creative process. For example, Rodin often reused certain details of his sculptures: hands, legs, and sometimes even entire bodies of which he only reworked the posture. As for Picasso, he appropriated certain details of well-known works, the most famous being the Infanta Margaret Theresa at the centre of the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez.
Details are often a pretext for exchanges with the spectators. It invites them to participate in a game of observation, interpretation and investigation. By thinking about the different uses of details in the conception of an artwork, I became interested in their integration in the process of certain contemporary artists. »
Text translated by Caitlin Stall-Paquet
August 1 – September 6, 2014
Du détail à l'oeuvre
Guest Curator: Yan Romanesky
