Until 18 August, the traveling exhibition which gives carte blanche to artists to reinterpret the iconic House bag can be found on the fourth floor of Taipei 101, in Taiwan. For the occasion, two new works are joining the impressive collection of photographs and sculptures devoted to the Lady Dior bag.
A great lover of art, Christian Dior had been a passionate gallerist, showing the work of such notable names as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti. Years later, when he opened his own couture house, he continued in this attachment to the world of art, beginning in 1947, with his very first collection, in which two dresses were baptized Matisse and Braque. The house of Dior has perpetuated this strong association with artists and their work ever since. In 2011, the first Lady Dior As Seen By exhibition was held in Shanghai and gave carte blanche to international photographers and artists to deliver their vision of the iconic bag, by appropriating its form, materials and/or its emblematic cannage motif. The exhibition has gone on to travel to Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Milan, Seoul, São Paulo and Düsseldorf, and this summer touches down in the capital city of Taiwan. Among the works on show until 18 August at Taipei 101, the black and white image Anja, by Patrick Demarchelier, affirms the relationship between body and bag; Reserved Pride by Chen Man transforms the Lady Dior into a sacred object; while the sculpture from Olympia Scarry portrays it in exploded form, symbolizing the unstoppable force of today’s women. For this new stage in the exhibition’s history, two Taiwanese artists have enriched the already expansive collection: the photographer Shao Ting-Kuei and the sculptor Liu Chih-Hung.
