We have recently translated into Spanish the press material for the first of the Dia Art Foundation’s projects at New York’s Hispanic Society (it’s going to be a three-year collaboration). The exhibition has been conceived by Belgian artist Francis Alÿs, who lives and works in Mexico City. Over the last two decades, Alÿs has put together a large collection of nearly identical images of fourth-century Saint Fabiola, all based on a lost original painted in the nineteenth century by the French academic artist Jean-Jacques Henner. The exhibition includes nearly 300 images from the artist’s collection.

The paintings are installed in the Society’s mahogany-paneled North Building Galleries until 6 April 2008. Gathered from flea markets, antique shops, and private collections throughout Europe and America, Alÿs’s collection offers a window onto aesthetic, sociological, and theological values over the past century and more.

Useful links:
An essay by Lynne Cooke

POSTED BY CARLOS MAYOR ON 20 OCTOBER 2007