Majesty

  • 2007
  • Tacita Dean
  • Gouache on photograph mounted on paper
  • Overall dimensions: 368 x 299 cm
Since 2001, Tacita Dean has been interested in remarkable tree specimens, in the tradition of landscape painting of the 19th century. The area surrounding the trunk and leafless branches has been overpainted with white gouache, emphasising the tree’s essence. Photographed as a timeless landmark, Majesty dominates the viewer with its imposing size but also engages in a visual dialogue in which the tree, isolated from its environment, is like a figure whose permanence has conquered time.

© Tacita Dean. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Martin Argyroglo

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Tacita Dean

Tacita Dean studied painting at the Slade School of Art (London). Since the mid-1990s, film and photography have been her preferred mediums.

She also works in chalk on blackboards, and paints postcards and photographs using slow, complex methods. Dean’s films reveal great attention to detail, based on fixed long takes. She records the effects of passing time, particularly in the traces left by the activities of individuals, in natural elements such as stones and trees. She develops this theme in filmed portraits of anonymous individuals and older artists. Passionate about cinema, Dean sees the current split between non-digital and digital film as a metaphor for a heightened awareness of time that informs all her work.

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