Portrait after a Costume Ball (Portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin) (1879)
by Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
European Painting and Sculpture, Gallery 226
Insun Kang BFA 2020 | Adèle: Two letters from the Research Files (2019)
Adèle: Two letters from the Research Files (2019), uses augmented reality to layer the lesser known stories about the making of the painting and the art historical interpretations that followed the completion of the work to let them exist in the same time and space. The current state of technology renders augmented reality experience one that embodies the viewer, as they are required to move around with the device in hand. As the viewer gets closer to the artwork, searching for new angles to view the work through the camera on their device, they become increasingly aware of what they bring into the artwork. The device that unveils added temporal and spatial layer atop the artwork is in itself a framing device and serves as an entry point for the viewers to contemplate how their social, geopolitical, and historical positioning shapes their understanding of the work.
In creating the series of three augmented reality lenses for the European Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, I used the research files at the museum extensively as sources of both material and inspiration. These files contain myriad of visual and texts that allow a generous glimpse into how the works are maintained, contextualized, researched, ownership transferred and shown around the globe. I found that some lovely personal stories hide amongst those dense research materials, such as the one from the great-granddaughter of ‘the’ Madame Dietz-Monnin, the model of this painting. Contrasting to Degas’ unsent letter to Mme. Dietz-Monnin, Victoire reveals her take on why her great-grandmother disliked the portrait. The following is the unsent letter from Degas in full, followed by a short excerpt from Victoire’s handwritten letter. The augmented reality work that I created merges three imageries together, one of the pastel sketch done as a preparation for the painting, a photo of the framed sketch sitting on a piece of furniture that was a part of a small packet containing Victoire's letters, and the portrait by Degas.
Unsent letter from Degas to Mme. Dietz-Monin: To Mme Dietz-Monin, Let us leave the portrait alone, I beg of you. I was so surprised by your letter suggesting that I reduce it to a boa and a hat that I shall not answer you. I thought that August or M. Groult to whom I had already spoken about your last idea and my own disinclination to follow it, would have informed you about the matter. Must I tell you that I regret having started something in my own manner only to find myself transforming it completely into yours? That would not be too polite and yet... But, dear Madame, I cannot go into this more fully without showing you only too clearly that I am very much hurt. Outside of my unfortunate art, please accept all my regards. (undated)
Letter from Victoire Gilbaud (Great-granddaughter of Mme. Dietz-Monin): “She was a gay widow. It is said that in the portrait, she was in a nightdress, ...and drunk. Others say she was painted as a prostitute, waiting for a client. (That is why she did not like it!)” (excerpt - dated 1980)