Joana Vasconcelos

Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Versailles, Château de Versailles, Joana Vasconcelos Versailles, 2012, pp. 55-59 and 122, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Some of the edges of the crochet elements are slightly folded. Very close inspection reveals some extremely light discolouration to the extreme edges of the lowest crochet elements, and some unobtrusive adhesive residue in places, which is in keeping with the artist's choice of medium. Some marble elements have been reinforced and are now all stable and secure.
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Prestigiously commissioned for Joana Vasconcelos’ acclaimed exhibition at the Palais de Versailles, Gardes is a work of pivotal importance that brilliantly represents the central idioms of the artist’s distinguished practice. As the fourth in a series of prominent exhibitions at the famous château, the present two sculptures stand as a timeless testament to this landmark exhibition, and offer a unique insight into Vasconcelos’ captivating oeuvre.

For her exhibition at the famous palace of Louis XIV, Vasconcelos produced a diverse body of work that reacted to the immediate surroundings within which they were placed. Having to compete with the grandiose aesthetics of the Baroque palace, the artist’s carefully crafted works had to take on a majestic appearance that responded to their site-specific placements, as well as the historical context that the artist explicitly sought to highlight.

As Vasconcelos explained: “I produced art for Versailles just as sculptors and artists did before me, and so my works are thought out and created specifically to take over and appropriate this space. Of course my work also represents something of a rupture, but the pieces presented adhere to this extravagant and excessive aesthetics” (Joana Vasconcelos in conversation with Rebecca Larmarche-Vadel, Exhibition Catalogue, Versailles, Château de Versailles, Joana Vasconcelos Versailles, 2012, p. 181).

The present work, Gardes, indeed represented a highly intelligent intervention in the monumental palace that was originally built for the French monarchy. With its imposing scale, the two marble lions have found a natural habitat in Versailles, where their undeniable presence is powerful but elegant. Majestically composed, the intricate patterns created by the contrast of the precious black Port Laurent marble and the artist’s signature white crochet, immediately captivates the viewer.

Their placement within the palace was carefully chosen by the artist, as they occupied the Salle des Gardes de la Reine – effectively guarding the queen outside of her room. This position is also highly politically charged, since this is where on the morning of 6 October 1789, the Queen’s guards gave their lives to protect Marie-Antoinette from the revolutionaries.

The impressive two sculptures have an equally powerful existence outside of the palace of Versailles. Although Gardes was conceived for the particular context of the Queen’s Guards Room, the work encapsulates many of the central tenets of Joana Vasconcelos’ celebrated oeuvre. Executed in marble, but covered with intricately laced crochet, the two sculptures undermine the forceful masculine symbolism of the lions, as their heroic appearance is covered with a layer of domestic materials.

Subverting their stately grandeur, Vasconcelos cleverly infuses the dominant male lions with female symbolism - and perhaps offers an alternative explanation of Marie-Antoinette’s famously lavish life-style: “lace is paradoxical in that it was used by Portugese women to fill the emptiness of their lives; it was the only means of expression available, the sole response to  an absolutely passive social situation. Then, for many of them, textiles became a tool of emancipation, an instrument for exercising their intelligence by the back door” (Ibid. p. 184).

In her use of a material that is generally considered kitsch and not often discussed in an art context, Joana Vasconcelos not only undermines the hierarchical and patriarchal power structures of the court of Louis XIV, and by extension of contemporary society, but also of the economics of materiality and production. In the artist’s own words, “Versailles presents me with the opportunity of highlighting the dangers and limits of absolute power and its ideology” (Ibid. p. 182). Gardes is therefore an unquestionably significant work from Joana Vasconcelos’ inventive practice, which beautifully amalgamates formal, historical and political issues into two powerful and timeless sculptures.