Les Femmes de la Révolution by Ian Hamilton Finlay

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Les Femmes de la Révolution

Artist Ian Hamilton Finlay (Nassau, Bahamas, 1925 - 2006)

AssociatedAssociated with Madame de Condorcet (Meulan, France, 1764 - 1822)

AssociatedAssociated with Queen Marie Antoinette (Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria, 1755 - 1793)

AssociatedAssociated with Madame de Staël (Paris, France, 1768 - 1817)

AssociatedAssociated with Albertine Marat (Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1760 - 1841)

AssociatedAssociated with Théroigne de Méricourt (Marcourt, Belgium, 1762 - 1817)

AssociatedAssociated with Madame de Pastoret (Paris, France, 1765 - 1843)

AssociatedAssociated with Madame Duplay (Paris, France, 1768 - 1832)

AssociatedAssociated with Charlotte Corday (Ligneries, France, 1768 - 1793)

AssociatedAssociated with Madame Roland (Paris, France, 1754 - 1793)

AssociatedAssociated with Rose Lacombe

AssociatedAssociated with Marguerite Dennelle

AssociatedAssociated with Catherine Thiot

Date2003

Mediumporcelain and cherry wood

ClassificationsInstallations

Dimensions76.5 x 327.5 x 89.5cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 2005 with assistance from the National Art Collections Fund and the Friends of Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG014342

Keywords

About MeIan Hamilton Finlay died on 27 March 2006. He was one of Scotland's most highly regarded contemporary artists and continued to work creatively into his eightieth year. The focus of his life's work, his garden, Little Sparta, at Dunsyre near Edinburgh, recently was voted in a newspaper poll, the most significant Scottish work of art of all time. The French Revolution has been a recurring theme in his art and at Little Sparta. Finlay developed a revolutionary iconography to represent wildness in nature and the struggle between nature and order.

This installation conjures up a dinner party where the imagined guests are the female protagonists and heroines of the Revolution. The personalities are identified and their names are inscribed on the dinner plates along with wild flowers. The two opposing sides, Republicans and Monarchists, are called together: Queen Marie-Antoinette sits opposite Charlotte Corday, Marat's assassin. Also remembered are Albertine Marat, Jean Manon Roland (who pronounced the immortal words, "O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name?") and Théroigne de Méricourt who led the assault on the Bastille.

The elegant place settings initially evoke an image of a convivial gathering but most of these women died in violent circumstances. So, the dinner party becomes a Last Supper. This duality, the contrast of light and dark, is central to Ian Hamilton Finlay's work.

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This installation imagines a dinner party where the guests are the female protagonists and heroines of the French Revolution, identified by their names on the porcelain plates.