TRTR(2) Henner's Way of Being Original, Copied (p. 68)

[Jed Kelestron]

http://arttattler.com/commentaryfabiola.html

Saint who? I’ve canvassed half a dozen Catholics I know and not one of
them has ever heard of Saint Fabiola. Yet, over at the National
Portrait Gallery, Belgian artist Francis Alÿs has created an
installation which consists of 300 images of Saint Fabiola in what
must be the most unexpected, original, and thoughtful exhibition of
contemporary art this year.

For the last 15 years, Alÿs has haunted flea markets and junk shops in
Britain, continental Europe, Mexico and the United States searching
for pictures of the saint. He doesn’t care who made the work, or
whether it is oil on canvas, needlework, shells, gesso, enamel, carved
wood, or ceramic. Very few of the works in this show look as though
they were painted by professional artists, and among the amateurs only
a handful rise to the level of competency.

***What they all have in common is that they are based on a single
image: the original painting, now lost, which the minor French painter
Jean-Jacques Henner exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1885.***

http://bit.ly/x8PXy