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'[Andre] Malraux’s book really draws attention to the idea of editing as a creative act, and as editing is so intrinsic to my practice I found his book fascinating. His imaginary museum became my own imaginary museum, and with each of the pages that I drew and painted on to directly, I took an artifact with an established cultural reading and, whilst operating within its existing aesthetic, I made space for a new reading.'
- Ann-Marie James
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Museé Imaginaire is an ongoing series by British artist Ann-Marie JAMES made directly onto the pages of a first edition of French novelist and art theorist Andre Malraux’s seminal publication from 1952.
Museé Imaginaire, or ‘the museum without walls’ as it is often translated, brings together imagery of art and antiquities from all over the world into one tome, calling into question the “home” of art and the role of museums, as well as representation and reproduction in art history. To James, the book is somewhat prescient of the way in which art is viewed via the internet and importantly, draws attention to the idea of editing as a creative act – a process integral to James’s work.
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Ann-Marie JAMES
MUSÉE IMAGINAIRE, Plate 180, 2013Ink on bookplate22.3 x 17.7 cm sheet -
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André Malraux in the process of selecting images for the book Le musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale, published in 1952 © Maurice Jarnoux/Paris Match via Getty
Working across the mediums of painting, drawing, printmaking and collage, James’s work explores two main themes: the idea of change and metamorphosis, of one thing turning into another, and the idea of connection or dialogue with art history, through the use of found imagery and texts. James’s Museé Imaginaire series follows her general enquiry into found objects and appropriation, especially in relation to her own interest and artistic response to historical artworks.
Works from Museé Imaginaire series were first shown in a solo exhibition at Knoerle & Baettig Gallery in Winterthur, Switzerland in 2013. A large group of drawings are in the collection of The Ned in London.
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'What struck me most as I looked through [Musee Imaginaire] for the first time was the way in which each image had been so heavily cropped around each sculpture's face - how heavily edited the images were, and how much that dictated their reading. I work with imagery of historical sculpture a lot, and the first thing that I tend to edit or obscure is the face, as it's expression often imparts so much of the sculpture's meaning. Having cropped each image so closely around the face in the majority of his selected images, Malraux made working with the face unavoidable, and thus presented me with an exciting challenge.'
- Ann-Marie James
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Ann-Marie JAMES (b. 1981) was born in Buckinghamshire, UK and currently lives and works in Suffolk. James studied MA Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art, London (2010–12), received her Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2010), and a BA (Hons) Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London (2001–04).
Awards include the Artists International Development Fund travel award, Arts Council England (2016); The Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship at The British School at Rome (2013–2014); MFI Flat Time House Graduate Award, supported by the John Latham Foundation, London (2012); The Jealous Graduate Print Prize, London (2012) and The Queen's Award, Central Saint Martins Scholarship Awards (2003). Her work is featured in the collections of The British Museum, the Chelsea College of Art and Design Library, the University of the Arts, London, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Ned.
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'These drawings might give the viewer some insight into the manner in which James works with image – literally describing the process of transformation from figuration to abstraction… …the image becomes a figurative, representational depiction of a coherent object becoming an abstract form: a painting of an instant of metamorphoses.'
- Michael Bracewell, Ann-Marie James: Proserpina
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Ann-Marie JAMES
MUSÉE IMAGINAIRE, Plate 248, 2013Ann-Marie JAMES
MUSÉE IMAGINAIRE, Plate 248, 2013Ink on bookplate22.3 x 17.7 cm sheet
Ann-Marie JAMES: Musée Imaginaire
Past viewing_room
