Get a taste of Coco's culture
By Michelle Zhang |
January 16, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE three Chanel boutiques in Shanghai are always crowded with young ladies craving the fashion house's signature 2.55 flap handbags, classic tweed jackets and exquisite pearl necklaces. Why do so many of them spend almost 30,000 yuan (US$4,544)on a bag and more than 50,000 yuan on a jacket?
Visit the ongoing "Culture Chanel" exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Shanghai and you will probably find the answer.
The exhibition, curated by Jean-Louis Froment, a well-known figure in the contemporary art and design world, gathers together more than 400 pieces of Chanel designs, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, films and artworks, including 100 on loan from museums and private collections.
Among the exhibits are original pieces created both by Mademoiselle Chanel herself, such as the "Comete" brooch she created in 1932 and the iconic Chanel No.5 perfume bottle she designed in 1921, and by her contemporary artist friends, including the poets Jean Cocteau and Pierre Reverdy, the painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali and the composer Igor Stravinsky.
"The exhibition enables viewers to experience, appreciate, search and understand the fine texture of art and culture embedded in Chanel's designs," said Samuel Kung, chairman and director of MoCA Shanghai. "It brings out the inner worlds that the designer never directly expressed."
The exhibition has been developed around five themes: Origin, Abstraction, Invisibility, Liberty and Imaginary.
"The works exhibited are much closer to the 'spirit of Chanel' than to a chronological representation of its history," Froment said. "It's not about illustrating or demonstrating but about evoking and entering into a creative period in motion."
According to him, the five sequences, each standing for a Chanel "value," also pay tribute to the number "5," which holds a symbolic reference for the House of Chanel.
The highlighted exhibits include "The Five Fingers" music score by Stravinsky in 1921, the "Wheat Ear" painting by Dali in 1947, the "Acrobats" sketch by Picasso in 1905, as well as selective pieces from Chanel's haute couture collections and old portraits of Mademoiselle Chanel in different eras.
"Painters, musicians, poets, choreographers, photographers and filmmakers were all part of her life sharing the same creative spirit," Froment said. "From a cubist cut-up to the construction of a garment, from a musical score to a perfume, from a poem to a piece of jewelry ... all these are part of a complete, historical and cultural creation."
When combined together, they deliver to visitors not only the stories of Coco Chanel and her fashion house, but also the stories, art and culture of a remarkable historical era.
Even though Mademoiselle Chanel never visited China, she maintained a privileged relationship with Chinese civilization by surrounding herself with Chinese antiques, such as her collection of lacquered screens from the 17th and 18th centuries that she loved to mix with Western furniture. She also made several references to China in her creations when making fabrics inspired by the designs found on her screens and by taking the traditional method of buttoning found on Chinese jackets for some of her suit jackets.
In the "Imaginary" part of the exhibition, visitors will find the photograph featuring Mademoiselle Chanel in front of the Coromandel screens in her apartment at 31 rue Cambon in Paris, and the original "Coromandel" coat created by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel's haute couture fall/winter 1996 collection.
Visit the ongoing "Culture Chanel" exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Shanghai and you will probably find the answer.
The exhibition, curated by Jean-Louis Froment, a well-known figure in the contemporary art and design world, gathers together more than 400 pieces of Chanel designs, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, films and artworks, including 100 on loan from museums and private collections.
Among the exhibits are original pieces created both by Mademoiselle Chanel herself, such as the "Comete" brooch she created in 1932 and the iconic Chanel No.5 perfume bottle she designed in 1921, and by her contemporary artist friends, including the poets Jean Cocteau and Pierre Reverdy, the painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali and the composer Igor Stravinsky.
"The exhibition enables viewers to experience, appreciate, search and understand the fine texture of art and culture embedded in Chanel's designs," said Samuel Kung, chairman and director of MoCA Shanghai. "It brings out the inner worlds that the designer never directly expressed."
The exhibition has been developed around five themes: Origin, Abstraction, Invisibility, Liberty and Imaginary.
"The works exhibited are much closer to the 'spirit of Chanel' than to a chronological representation of its history," Froment said. "It's not about illustrating or demonstrating but about evoking and entering into a creative period in motion."
According to him, the five sequences, each standing for a Chanel "value," also pay tribute to the number "5," which holds a symbolic reference for the House of Chanel.
The highlighted exhibits include "The Five Fingers" music score by Stravinsky in 1921, the "Wheat Ear" painting by Dali in 1947, the "Acrobats" sketch by Picasso in 1905, as well as selective pieces from Chanel's haute couture collections and old portraits of Mademoiselle Chanel in different eras.
"Painters, musicians, poets, choreographers, photographers and filmmakers were all part of her life sharing the same creative spirit," Froment said. "From a cubist cut-up to the construction of a garment, from a musical score to a perfume, from a poem to a piece of jewelry ... all these are part of a complete, historical and cultural creation."
When combined together, they deliver to visitors not only the stories of Coco Chanel and her fashion house, but also the stories, art and culture of a remarkable historical era.
Even though Mademoiselle Chanel never visited China, she maintained a privileged relationship with Chinese civilization by surrounding herself with Chinese antiques, such as her collection of lacquered screens from the 17th and 18th centuries that she loved to mix with Western furniture. She also made several references to China in her creations when making fabrics inspired by the designs found on her screens and by taking the traditional method of buttoning found on Chinese jackets for some of her suit jackets.
In the "Imaginary" part of the exhibition, visitors will find the photograph featuring Mademoiselle Chanel in front of the Coromandel screens in her apartment at 31 rue Cambon in Paris, and the original "Coromandel" coat created by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel's haute couture fall/winter 1996 collection.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
