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Lot Essay
Delicate patterns of handmade cotton crochet and lace, made up of circular designs, flowers and swirls cover the surface of an elegantly posed sculpture showing the Greek mythological deity that was the incarnation of grace and beauty, Euphrosyne, one of the three graces. Executed in 2008, the intricate details of the sculpture are evidence of the extreme technical skills of Joanna Vasconcelos, one of the foremost Portuguese artists who represented them at the 2005 Venice Biennale and is the most recent contemporary artist to show at Versailles, following in the footsteps of Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.
Euphrosyne is immensely alluring, in large part through the layer of lace crocheting that surrounds the cement sculpture of the beautiful female form beneath. It instantly attracts viewers, as Vasconcelos explained, 'the crochet pieces are great fun because the viewer might think, 'Gosh, that's just like the crochet back at home, just like my Grandma's or my Mum's!' Then they think, 'Actually, it's in bad taste. But I like it because I find in it a certain identity, something I recognize. It's like what I have at home, but now I'm seeing it in an artistic context' (J. Vasoncelos quoted in J. Lageira & A. Prez Rubio, Joana Vasconcelos, Lisbon 2007, p. 164). It is through these sorts of thoughts that the work serves to draw viewers in, presenting them with a new way of thinking about the world and particularly questioning gender roles. For Vasconcelos, this is a central purpose to her art, which she wants 'to create a space for discovery, a first moment where you capture what is obvious in the first instant. What I try to achieve with my pieces, whether they be large or small, is to spark off a thought process after the initial gaze' (J. Vasconcelos quoted in Ibid, p. 163).
The crochet is central to sparking off this thought process, because 'it's a fully globalising language, relative to the women of the entire world' (J. Vasconcelos interviewed by A. Prez Rubio, in P. Cunha e Silva, Joana Vasoncelos, Lisbon 2009, p. 62). Indeed, Euphrosyne combines the different ages of women, with the three graces, the ultimate symbol of beauty, and the knitted crocheting, which one associates with older women, instantly reminding viewers of a contemporary womanhood that is still captive to the dictates of a phallocentric culture. In particular, placing a beautiful female form on a plinth instantly draws comparison with the grand tradition of sculpture, especially when taking the three graces as subject. However, where the sculptors had traditionally been men depicting ideal forms of female beauty for male viewers, in this case it is a woman sculptor creating a work for all genders. By re-contextualising the subject in this way, Vasconcelos has created something monumental and spectacular, whilst also passing an ironic comment on the fact that women are still widely expected to be both publically beautiful and domestically predisposed in a provocative sculpture that possess a rare and surprising beauty.
Euphrosyne is immensely alluring, in large part through the layer of lace crocheting that surrounds the cement sculpture of the beautiful female form beneath. It instantly attracts viewers, as Vasconcelos explained, 'the crochet pieces are great fun because the viewer might think, 'Gosh, that's just like the crochet back at home, just like my Grandma's or my Mum's!' Then they think, 'Actually, it's in bad taste. But I like it because I find in it a certain identity, something I recognize. It's like what I have at home, but now I'm seeing it in an artistic context' (J. Vasoncelos quoted in J. Lageira & A. Prez Rubio, Joana Vasconcelos, Lisbon 2007, p. 164). It is through these sorts of thoughts that the work serves to draw viewers in, presenting them with a new way of thinking about the world and particularly questioning gender roles. For Vasconcelos, this is a central purpose to her art, which she wants 'to create a space for discovery, a first moment where you capture what is obvious in the first instant. What I try to achieve with my pieces, whether they be large or small, is to spark off a thought process after the initial gaze' (J. Vasconcelos quoted in Ibid, p. 163).
The crochet is central to sparking off this thought process, because 'it's a fully globalising language, relative to the women of the entire world' (J. Vasconcelos interviewed by A. Prez Rubio, in P. Cunha e Silva, Joana Vasoncelos, Lisbon 2009, p. 62). Indeed, Euphrosyne combines the different ages of women, with the three graces, the ultimate symbol of beauty, and the knitted crocheting, which one associates with older women, instantly reminding viewers of a contemporary womanhood that is still captive to the dictates of a phallocentric culture. In particular, placing a beautiful female form on a plinth instantly draws comparison with the grand tradition of sculpture, especially when taking the three graces as subject. However, where the sculptors had traditionally been men depicting ideal forms of female beauty for male viewers, in this case it is a woman sculptor creating a work for all genders. By re-contextualising the subject in this way, Vasconcelos has created something monumental and spectacular, whilst also passing an ironic comment on the fact that women are still widely expected to be both publically beautiful and domestically predisposed in a provocative sculpture that possess a rare and surprising beauty.