Dress Impression with Train
Artist: Karen LaMonte (American, born 1967)
Date: 2005 (design), 2007 (casting)
Dimensions:
H: 58 ¼ in. (148 cm); W: 22 ½ in. (57 cm); Depth: 43¼ in. (110 cm)
Medium: Hollow female sculpture cast in colorless soda-lime glass in four pieces (upper torso, lower torso, skirt, and train); sandblasted and acid polished. The cast rose/knot is adhered with silicone glue.
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange
Object number: 2008.148
Label Text:To create her life-sized glass sculptures, Karen LaMonte, who works in the Czech Republic, makes a wax casting of a woman’s body, which she then dresses in an evening gown. She makes another mold of this clothed figure and casts it in glass. The inner cavity retains a haunting image of the imprint of the body once enveloped by the gown. The flowing folds of its drapery, permanently captured in glass, define the sculpture’s ghostly translucent exterior.
The “empty” dress serves as a memento mori (“remember you must die”), evoking the ephemeral quality of our corporeal selves and the fragility of the human condition. Further, it references the idea of clothing as a kind of controlling container. The formal gown with train requires carefully measured movement for a graceful entrance or exit. It projects ideals of appearance and wealth promoted by high fashion, while questioning the psychological and social implications of the way we dress.
The “empty” dress serves as a memento mori (“remember you must die”), evoking the ephemeral quality of our corporeal selves and the fragility of the human condition. Further, it references the idea of clothing as a kind of controlling container. The formal gown with train requires carefully measured movement for a graceful entrance or exit. It projects ideals of appearance and wealth promoted by high fashion, while questioning the psychological and social implications of the way we dress.
Description
After making a plaster imprint of a nude model, she makes several wax negatives and positives before putting the clothing on a final rubber replica and making the mouId for the actual sculpture.
After making a plaster imprint of a nude model, she makes several wax negatives and positives before putting the clothing on a final rubber replica and making the mouId for the actual sculpture.
On view
In Collection(s)