The Couvent d'Ô, owned by banker and artist's book publisher Jean Claude
Meyer, on the lower slopes of Bonnieux, is an unconsecrated chapel with
work commissioned from Louise Bourgeois.
This hidden treasure, built in the 17th century but sold by the church in the French revolution, has had many lives, even functioning for a time as a silk-worm barn. It is rarely open (July and the first half of September) but we managed to sneak a visit there one September Sunday.
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| the font in Carrara marble |
It took two years for Louise Bourgeois to conceive and make the pieces for the space and the work was installed in 2001. Before she began, she was asked if she believed in God to which she did not respond. However, the work evokes and embodies the spirituality of the chapel and her fabric dolls of the crucifix and the Virgin Mary are very tender.
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| tiny felt crucifix |
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| Virgin Mary |
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| bronze spider |
A stark bronze cross made from a 'suffering arm' and a clenched and unclenched fist completes the stunning mix of sensual and glacial.
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ReplyDeleteWow what a fascinating place,the old and the new melding together in such an interesting way.
ReplyDeleteSyls