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Monday, June 20, 2011

The Paper Art of Isabelle De Borchgrave



I have just discovered the art of Isabelle De Borchgrave, a woman from Brussels who creates the most incredible paper "fabric" sculptures.
She paints paper then sculpts it into costumes, mostly iconic pieces from history, but often with her own whinsical twist. Among other things she has created a whole collection of historical garments but changed the colour palette to just white to show the design details in the garments.
She observed images in ancient portraits and as she was curious to see right around the clothing, she studied it's construction and used it as inspiration to construct like garments in paper.
It's hard to believe that the pieces are not made of fabric, such is her skill in catching the lie of the cloth, the texture of the embroidery, or the heft of her embelishments.
I've only ever seen her work online or on paper - I would love to see it "up close and personal", but I know that the first thing I would want to do is touch it, and I'm sure that would not be the done thing!

Delphos Dress 2006 2007 Inspired by a design by Mariano Fortuny.

Detail of Neopolitan Woman 2010.  Inspired by a 1635 portrait by Massimo Stanzione in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
If you would like to see more - try the website link above, or just do a Google Image search - it's well worth the clicks!
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2 comments:

sukipoet said...

lovely. not sure if this is the same woman who had a show in San Francisco not long ago and who my friend Robin who works at the art museum posted about. Must be as how could there be two people who make these amazing costumes from paper.

June 23, 2011 at 4:51 AM
Lesley said...

Hi Suki,
Yes it is the same artist that Robin blogged about after seeing her exhibition in San Francisco! I went onto her blog and tried to post to her, but Blogger was having a hissy-fit and wouldn't let me...
I wanted to tell her that I was really envious of her being able to see the work in real time - and being on staff must have given her longer to sit with the work and appreciate it - how wonderful!

June 24, 2011 at 3:15 PM

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