Tuesday, 22 September 2015 10:15

YSL Exhibition Unfurled

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Paper replaces walls in the innovative installation of landmark Style is Eternal show celebrating the work of fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent.

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Where most exhibitions are constructed of wood panels and metal nails, part of the remarkable exhibition of Yves Saint Laurent’s work and life at The Bowes Museum, County Durham has been intricately dressed with paper. As if walking into the designer’s sketch books, a room designed by Paris’ agence NC, Nathalie Crinière has taken stock from British master papermakers, James Cropper Paper and formed an immersive, paper-based appreciation of Saint Laurent’s creative process.

Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal, the first exhibition in the UK to show a comprehensive display of the French designer’s work is dominated by paper, from initial sketches to specification forms and the patterns for his famous final designs. Understanding that paper is riven through the creative process, Agence NC designer Nathalie Crinière and installation company, North Exhibition Services set about to ensure the natural look of paper was dominant as a backdrop to the exhibition experience. A white cube of pristine white paper cocoons a range of Saint Laurent’s earliest creations in trademark monochrome fabrics, making good use of The Bowes Museum’s high ceilings with a dramatic drop of uninterrupted, five to six metre sheets.

Unaware as to how the paper would respond directly from rolls, or precisely how to match paper elements with other parts in glass and steel, the versatility of the stock soon became an advantage as complex cuts were made with only blades and scissors. The sense of understatement is emboldened by the texture of the 120gsm paper, which curls naturally at the foot of each hung sheet, evoking the gnarled edges of a well-worn notebook or the flick of a lavish evening dress. A slight movement in the paper as large numbers of visitors pass through the space adds an unexpected, sensuous sense of animation.

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Specialists in black papers, James Cropper supplied a deep natural black paper in 120gsm to carry white text as information panels to guide viewers through the chronology of Saint Laurent’s career, instead of more standard exhibition installations that see vinyl lettering applied directly to walls or foamboard mounts. The effect is striking, yet in keeping with the exhibition’s understated style.

Doug Lamond, Founding Director of North Exhibition Services, said: “This was a first for us being asked to use paper to create the backdrop for an exhibition on this scale. It was a challenge in the sense that it was an unknown how the paper would behave straight off a roll. We needn’t have been worried as the paper worked very well as a backdrop for the show for many reasons, including its natural texture, weight and starkness of the white print on black. I would certainly recommend it as a finish whenever the aesthetic calls for it and on the scale we have just delivered, it has a great impact while being understated and subtle.”

James Cropper Paper, which supplies many of the world’s leading luxury brands with custom papers for their packaging requirements, also featured in the VIP launch invitation (Vanguard White, 620gsm and envelope in Vanguard Dark Grey), promotional print materials for the exhibition (Vanguard Silver Grey, 160gsm) and within the pages of the stunning 120 page catalogue (Vanguard Silver Grey, 120gsm and Vanguard Silver Grey, 300gsm), resplendent in a foiled and embossed cover and hand-finished binding.

Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal, presented by The Bowes Museum and the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent runs at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham until Sunday 25 October 2015.

ABOUT JAMES CROPPER & TECHNICAL FIBRE PRODUCTS (TFP):

James Cropper are prestige paper innovators based in the English Lake District, supplying distinct, custom-made paper products to many of the world’s leading luxury brands, art galleries and designers. A proud sponsor of artists and exhibitions including events at Frieze Masters and NYCxDesign, James Cropper Paper is committed to supporting creativity. Celebrating 170 years of high quality paper production in 2015, the business has been carefully stewarded and nurtured by six generations of the Cropper family and is renowned globally for individual expertise in colour, dedicated responses to the most challenging custom projects and award-winning commitment to the highest standards of sustainability.

A network of global sales and production facilities from Europe to the Far East provides local customer service to international clients, while its historic base in the village of Burneside retains nearly two centuries worth of paper making expertise.

In supporting Yves Saint Laurent: Style Is Eternal, James Cropper reflects on the strong link between paper and design, with Saint Laurent himself expressing early creativity in the meticulous execution of handcrafted paper dolls. The company’s paper plays a role as a backdrop to the exhibition itself with small reels of white paper, specially cut to length, hanging in the ‘Glass Cube’ and reels of a black board printed to create a timeline along the entire length of the gallery. Uncoated papers in classic white and grey shades from the Vanguard collection feature as VIP invitations, sections within the Yves Saint Laurent book and also the exhibition guide.

As well as paper products, James Cropper PLC also incorporates Technical Fibre Products (TFP), manufacturers of non-woven materials from carbon, glass and polymer fibres, which play a key part in production of composites in the automotive, energy and aerospace sectors. For further information visit: www.jamescropper.com and www.tfpglobal.com

About the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent

The Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, which opened in 2004 in the former Yves Saint Laurent couture house on 5 Avenue Marceau, Paris, is founded on 40 years of creativity. Recognised as a public organisation, it has three missions:

  • The rigorous museological conservation of a unique heritage comprising five thousand haute couture garments and fifteen thousand accessories, as well as thousands of sketches, collection boards, photographs, and objects;
  • The organization of exhibitions, in both the refurbished spaces at 5 Avenue Marceau and museums around the world, promoting Yves Saint Laurent’s work.
  • The support of cultural institutions encouraging the contemporary arts.

About The Bowes Museum

The Bowes Museum was created over 100 years ago by John and Joséphine Bowes.  Together they built up the greatest private collection of European fine and decorative arts in the North of England and constructed a magnificent French chateau in 17th century style, to house them in. The collection contains thousands of predominantly French objects including furniture, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and many other items covering an extensive range of European styles and periods.

For much of their lives John and Joséphine Bowes lived in Paris. Josephine was formerly an actress and performed in theThéâtre des Variétés, which John Bowes subsequently purchased.

The Bowes Museum has an internationally renowned exhibition programme. Recent exhibitions have included Tim Walker: Dreamscapes; Henry Poole Founder of Savile Row; and Stephen Jones ‘From Georgiana to Boy George’.  Current exhibitions are ‘Birds of Paradise –

Plumes and Feathers in Fashion’ initiated by MoMu Fashion Museum, Antwerp, and ‘Julian Opie Collected Works’, which presents works by and inspirations for the contemporary artist.

The Bowes Museum is located in Barnard Castle, County Durham and is open daily from 10.00am – 5.00pm

www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

About Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent was born on 1st August 1936 in Oran, Algeria, where he spent all his youth. In 1955, after a period at theChambre syndicale de la haute couture in Paris, he was introduced by Michel de Brunhoff, then director of ParisVogue, to Christian Dior, who immediately took him on as his assistant. When Dior died in 1957, Yves Saint Laurent became artistic director of the House of Dior. His first collection, the «Trapèze» collection, presented in January 1958, was an immense success. Called up to do his military service and hospitalised at the Val de Grâce, he was dismissed by the House of Dior in 1960.

In association with Pierre Bergé, whom he had met in 1958, Yves Saint Laurent decided to create his own couture house and his first collection was presented on 29th January 1962 at 30 bis rue Spontini in Paris. They remained there for 12 years during which Yves Saint Laurent invented the modern woman’s wardrobe.

From the end of the 1950s and throughout his career Yves Saint Laurent created costumes for theatre, ballet and cinema. He collaborated with Roland Petit, Claude Régy, Jean-Louis Barrault, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut... and dressed Jean Marais, Zizi Jeanmaire, Arletty, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Adjani and Catherine Deneuve, who became a long-standing close friend.

As early as 1965 Yves Saint Laurent paid tribute to artists in his haute couture collections with the famous Mondrian dresses, then in 1966 with the pop art dresses and in 1967 with his major homage to African primitive art. Yves Saint Laurent would travel to Marrakech for a fortnight on 1st December and 1st June of each year in order to design his haute couture collections. Morocco, a country he discovered in 1966, was to have a major influence on his work and his colours, as did all his  travels: Japan, India, Russia, China and Spain all provided sources of inspiration for his collections. In 1974, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé moved the couture house to 5, avenue Marceau in Paris, where the former would assert his style.

In 1983 the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted a retrospective exhibition to the couturier “Yves Saint Laurent 25 years of design”. It was the first time that a living fashion designer had received such an accolade there. Large-scale exhibitions were subsequently held in Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo and, of course, Paris, at the Musée des Arts de la mode, in 1986.

In 1998 Yves Saint Laurent dressed 300 models who appeared on the pitch of the Stade de France for the final match of the FIFA World Cup.

On 7th January 2002 he announced at a press conference that he was ending his career. On 22nd January of the same year, at the Centre Georges Pompidou, a retrospective show went back over 40 years of creation with over 300 models including his last Spring-Summer 2002 collection.

On 10th March 2004, the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent opened to the public with an exhibition entitled Yves Saint Laurent -Dialogue avec l’Art, which then travelled to the Caixa Galicia Foundation in Spain in 2007. The Yves Saint Laurent Style exhibition was presented in 2008 at the Fine Arts Museum of Montreal, and then at San Francisco’s de Young Museum.

On 1st June 2008, Yves Saint Laurent passed away at his Paris home in his seventy second year.

In 2010, the Fondation organised a major retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent’s work at the Petit Palais in Paris, which travelled to the MAPFRE Foundation in Madrid (2011) and the Denver Art Museum (2012). In 2013, a new exhibition project, Yves Saint Laurent, a visionary, was presented at the ING Cultural Center in Brussels.

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