Nina Childress's Erotic Subversion of Courbet's Burial at Ornans
At Galerie Bernard Jordan in Paris, from March 5 to April 9, 2011, Nina Childress presented a triptych that reimagines Gustave Courbet's monumental painting 'A Burial at Ornans' (1849-50) as an erotic, irreverent ceremony. Childress's version replaces the mourners with nude green women exposing their genitals to birds with elongated necks, while a blue man's arm emerges from the grave. The work, painted in the distorted, garish style of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bernard Buffet, and Francis Gruber, is displayed opposite a fluorescent wall that tints viewers' faces green. Critic Carole Boulbès notes that Childress's piece follows her 'Tombeau de Simone de Beauvoir,' exhibited at Mamco in Geneva in 2009. The exhibition ran until April 9, 2011.
Key facts
- Nina Childress exhibited at Galerie Bernard Jordan, Paris, from March 5 to April 9, 2011.
- The central work is a triptych reinterpreting Courbet's 'A Burial at Ornans' as an erotic scene.
- Figures include nude green women with exposed genitals and a blue man's arm emerging from the grave.
- The style references Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bernard Buffet, and Francis Gruber.
- The triptych is displayed opposite a fluorescent wall that tints viewers green.
- Childress previously exhibited 'Tombeau de Simone de Beauvoir' at Mamco, Geneva, in 2009.
- The review was written by Carole Boulbès for artpress.
- Courbet's original painting is held at the Musée d'Orsay.
Entities
Artists
- Nina Childress
- Gustave Courbet
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- Bernard Buffet
- Francis Gruber
- Carole Boulbès
Institutions
- Galerie Bernard Jordan
- Musée d'Orsay
- Mamco
- artpress
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Geneva
- Switzerland
Sources
- artpress —