Archive: "Queens and Archetypes," New Orleans Art Review, Spring 2018

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“A Queen Within – Adorned Archetypes”

New Orleans Museum of Art

Kathy Rodriguez

 

            “A Queen Within began with the idea that the queen, as an archetype and historical feminine construct, symbolizes tradition yet possesses the creative freedom to redefine the rules established by a patriarchal system,” states Kelly Peck in the foreword to the catalog for this show. Just upstairs from the first-floor gallery that houses dazzling fashion within complex set designs, one can peer at such a queen from across the mezzanine. New Orleans Museum of Art’s jewel of the permanent collection, Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun’s portrait of Marie Antoinette, gazes back at the viewer in splendor. 

            The portrait is notable for its Neoclassical elements, such as its rectilinear composition punctuated by the triangular form of the subject matter.  By description, this portrait fulfilled the wishes of Marie Therese, the Queen’s Austrian mother, to see her daughter in her “proper” place. On another level, in 1788 Paris especially was quickly moving toward revolution against the monarchy, and this queen needed propagandistic images to depict her as a simple, intelligent, matronly, and caring woman.  However, in her desire for freedom from the strictures of the court, she defied certain rules of decorum. In light of Peck’s quote, the painting of the French queen both serves as an archetypal image of traditional roles she would serve, and, with the picturesque window behind her and framing her face, suggests her desire for flight in addition to her enlightened thought.

            In the same short time period, Vigée Lebrun painted another famous portrait of Marie Antoinette that hangs at the former royal palace – Marie Antoinette and her Children at Versailles.  In it she portrays the Queen in sumptuous reds, positioned with her three eldest children next to an empty crib.  The youngest, Sophie Beatrix, died in infancy, and Marie Antoinette hoped through this image to communicate her empathy, a shared sense of loss, with her public.  The painting was so detested that it couldn’t be shown, however, and her propagandistic aims failed.

            Marie Antoinette wanted to convey her role as a mother, which is one of the archetypal female roles explored in A Queen Within.   In addition to “Mother Earth,” the thematic roles “Thespian,” “Magician,” “Explorer,” “Enchantress,” “Heroine,” and “Sage” frame fashion collections by myriad designers.  In a contemporary context, Antoinette may have donned the red ensemble by Ashish that plainly states “LOVE & DEVOTION” in shimmering sequins, below an elaborate tiara and veil – one of the designs included under the earth-mother archetype.  Likely, though, her society would have rather viewed her in the sheer black and floral embroidered gown by Sarah Burton and Alexander McQueen, which in the exhibition is accessorized with a double-horned black headdress.  Within this installation, fashion is ecologically sourced and incorporates iconography from nature, while the overall design is dominated by a labyrinthine arrangement of magenta bouquets – a symbol of Mother Earth’s identity.

            The Petite Trianon, the escapist hamlet bequeathed to Marie Antoinette by her husband – originally built for his grandfather’s mistresses - held no lack of theatrical performances for the entertainment of the court. Entertainment is one of the fundamental qualities of the archetype of the thespian, which is imaginative, creative, amusing, and tragic – all qualities of the theatre. Alexander McQueen’s blue embroidered coat from The Girl Who Lived in the Tree collection, and the silk printed dress from Heaven and Hell decorated with filigreed designs, gold-painted feathers, and various characters might have befit performers of the French court.  The set at NOMA positions mannequins within a grid-like platform, below black spheres featuring rhinestones in star-shaped formations, like a clutch of chandeliers above a marked stage.

            The archetype of the “Magician” involves theatricality as well, in a visionary sense – a woman who, so to speak, writes the play that is performed. In the context of tragedy and comedy, the magician is able to coalesce positive and negative, beauty and the grotesque, to create gold through alchemical acts.  The framework for the harlequin-like Flow ensemble and the idiosyncratic Switching on Even Small Lights in Our Too Dark Heart ensemble, both by Hideki Seo, is like a type of comic stage illustrated with caricatured creatures, akin to those one might find in a grade school production about undersea animals. The whimsy of this is reflected in the costumes that occupy it.  The use of primary colors is a metaphor for basic elements to be transformed into gold, as through the use of rocks and minerals in painting that when put together create a greater form, in an Elkins-ian sense.

There is a giant photographic print of McQueen and Isabella Blow by David Lachapelle that hangs just aside the installation for “Thespian,” which depicts a burning medieval building in the background – McQueen holds the torch as he leans back in a strapless gown, mouth open in revolutionary roar.  If the “Explorer” is an archetype that “encompasses the act of rebelling against the status quo,” as stated in the exhibition, then a parallel to events in late 18^th century France doesn’t seem such a stretch. The set that houses the clothes under this subject involves Anish Kapoor-like convex metal disks along the floor, and juicy blue spheres that could symbolize sky above water – two still mysterious realms that are consistently approached for travel and discovery. 

The associated designers explore areas of fashion that are often overlooked – “disability, race, and gender,” to begin, in addition to bodies atypical of the fashion world. Selfie Stick Aerobics Film, a video by Arvida Byström and Maja Malou Lyse, involves two women – one instructor, one demonstrator (akin to fitness videos of the 80s and 90s) – overtly exploring the sexualized ways women in particular take images of themselves, with positive affirmations like “beautiful!” and that all butts are great. One squat and one elongated mannequin (the latter reminiscent of figures by Jaume Plensa) wear plaid jackets and skirt sets by Anrealage and Kunihiko Morinaga, efficiently stating the diversity of human shape.

Of course Marie Antoinette was expected to be an “Enchantress” to her husband, Louis XVI, in an effort to maintain the royal bloodline.  This seductive female role is both demure and aggressive, a combination which did not work for the Queen for the first eight years of the marriage. One of the ways in which one may play those dual parts is through revealing and concealing alluring parts of the body, which is reflected in the installation’s use of corrugated plastic walls cut with porthole openings through which the viewer must peer into.  When done, sweet pink flowers reveal themselves around shoes, headpieces, and dresses – most notably two: Cloudy Day 1 headdress by Charlie le Mindu, and Petal and Panther headdress by Jordan Askill. Both resemble the wigs worn by French elite to enable elaborate hairstyles.  One dress, an eponymous form by Viktor&Rolf, fractures a painting in a frame into a wearable piece.  Antoinette, too, may have liked to break out of her own image.

In finally becoming a mother, the Queen met her obligation to the country as seen by the royal court, positioning her as the “Heroine.” She worked for her relationship through persistence, which is one aspect of this archetype.  Pieces in this area suggest armor and virility, meaning strength. The design of Alexander McQueen’s Gown with Snake Print is the closest to what the French queen might wear, but other involving “copper flames,” zippers, and embroidered vests recall militaristic emblems.  In chess, the Queen is most powerful, and usually ends the game in checkmate, as she can move anywhere.  In this sense, the winner is the one whose heroine is the biggest warrior of the board.

The fashions under the theme of “Sage” involve futuristic materials and patterns, such as the Cymatic dress by Iris van Herpen.  Cymatics involves using sound to create geometric imagery and patterns that change with wavelength frequencies, and so too does this dress as a model moves with it. Kino by Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao is a video that depicts the possibilities of kinetic accessories, with the purpose of marrying design with functionality – for instance, a wearer of a particular coat can change its weatherproofing without the necessity of pausing or changing.  Perhaps Antoinette would have been delighted. 

Susan Barrett, the founder of Barrett Barrera Projects – the institution that produced this exhibition – says in her foreword to the catalog that her original idea stemmed from the game of chess and how it affects fashion. This strategic game could be said to align with the fashion world, in that designers make conscious, deliberate choices for the greatest aim and most efficient win.  Marie Antoinette essentially played the game of court life, navigating to the best of her ability the stratagems, intrigue, and politics that played in Versailles. Tired of its convoluted labyrinths, she removed herself. Ultimately, she lost. Her image remains as the last French female ruler to hold the throne before revolution temporarily destroyed the monarchy, and thus the last archetypal Queen for that time period. I imagine she ponders the curatorial thought behind the fantastic display of clothing just below her, and perhaps pines to try them all on.