For the first time ever, more than just a luxury space, a luxury lifestyle brand inspired by the world of fine art photography is born - Vue Privée. Its first exhibition will take the form of a prelude, titled Technicolour Japan, which will be held from May 14 to July 4.
This event marks the pre-opening of the public launch of Vue Privée, an unusual and redefined fine art photography gallery, to be held in September. Founded by Olivier Henry, a respected and accomplished photographer in his own right, who is perhaps best known for running one of the most successful commercial studios in Singapore, Milk Photographie, will offer a fresh new perspective into the world of fine art photography.
Technicolour Japan is all about capturing the elegance and mysterious beauty of Old Japan, seen through the lens of photographers living and working during the late Edo period (1872-1912). Born out of a Western fascination with the insular Japanese culture, new trade routes facilitated the meeting of Western and Eastern artisans, as well as tourists hungering for visual depictions of a world they’d never seen before. With Western photographers staging idealized scenes of Japanese life, as well as Japanese craftsmen hand painting these images in the tradition of wood block prints, the resulting images capture an imagined golden era of Japanese society that has come to be cherished by Western art-enthusiasts and Japanese ethnographers alike.
These hand painted photographs, better known as albumen prints, have been meticulously preserved in the Vue Privée Collection, which boasts a total of more than 9,000 original photographic images. A two and half month event, this exhibition provides Singapore art enthusiasts with an unexampled exposure to restricted photographic archives, as well as a reinterpretation of its contemporary versions. Its title refers to the exciting and often unpredictable meeting of old and new traditions, offering a fresh new perspective into the world of photography.
A reproduction of exclusive albumen prints will be showcased from the original 19th century photo albums, in editions of 100. The albumen print, was the first commercially used method of producing photographic prints on paper from a negative by using the albumen found in egg whites to bind the chemicals to the paper to form a photograph. In addition, these original images are remixed by artists coming from distinctively different practices which include Justin Lee, Craig Redman, Jamie Paul, Flee Circus and Steve Lawler, putting their own spin on these prints creating unique contemporary artworks. All items of the Vue Privée brand are assigned a limited edition number and are available for purchase.
