YVES SAINT LAURENT – SHAPES & FORMS: A Geometric Fusion of Art and Fashion

Returning to Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, it’s a pleasant surprise to find an expanded exhibition space, including audio-visual elements, bringing us even closer to Yves Saint Laurent’s creative journey. His workspace from his lifetime remains on display. This period during the COVID outbreak seems like a blank page that never existed here, yet the museum continues to offer beautiful exhibitions for all of us to enjoy.

In this extraordinary exhibition, artist Claudia Wieser delves into Yves Saint Laurent’s vast fashion collections, handpicking 40 garments that resonate with geometric design principles while infusing her own artistic aesthetics. This collaboration offers a fresh perspective on Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic clothing. Visitors to the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris will find an array of surprises, as additional exhibition spaces have been added, allowing for a closer and more intimate connection to Yves Saint Laurent’s creative journey. Notably, his workspace from his lifetime remains on display.

Through a captivating spatial arrangement, Claudia Wieser initiates a dialogue between Yves Saint Laurent’s textile pieces and graphic art from the museum’s collections. The exhibition features around 40 Yves Saint Laurent models, spanning both haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces, accompanied by accessories and sketches. These elements seamlessly harmonize with the decors and works by the German artist, Claudia Wieser. This innovative approach undeniably places the couturier’s genius in contemporary times.

The exhibition reveals Yves Saint Laurent’s mastery as both a colorist and an illusionist. His ingenious use of color and form produced vibrant abstract compositions in the juxtaposition of flat surfaces. He deftly transformed pictorial material into textiles, skillfully balancing color, form, surface, and line. Additionally, Yves Saint Laurent’s talent as an illusionist shone through as he played with black and white to create the illusion of movement within garments.

He achieved this optical illusion through flat, simple lines, with shape taking precedence over colour. Furthermore, the couturier embraced geometries with enthusiasm, assembling a mosaic of boldly partitioned fragments as if from a prism. Whether employing curves, right angles, spheres, or broken lines, his work paid meticulous attention to color and form.

Claudia Wieser, heavily influenced by the intuitive and spiritual work of artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, explores modernist-inspired geometric constructions in her own art. Known for her immersive and contemplative installations, Wieser offers visitors a completely immersive experience. As part of the “YVES SAINT LAURENT – SHAPES & FORMS” project, Claudia Wieser presents several of her own works, including some never-before-exhibited pieces.

About Claudia Wieser:
Claudia Wieser, born in Germany in 1973, began her artistic journey after training in ironwork and studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Her artistic practice is characterised by a deep appreciation for geometry and space. She combines various techniques and materials, including ceramics, mirrors, wood, and photography, to create graphic compositions and decorative volumes. Since 2002, her work has been exhibited internationally, and she has participated in numerous residencies. In 2010, she reinterpreted Le Poème de l’angle droit (The Poem of the Right Angle) by Le Corbusier at the Drawing Center in New York. In 2021, Claudia Wieser was invited by the Public Art Fund of New York to design her first public art project, consisting of five monumental sculptures that highlight the dynamism of the city and its inhabitants.

1936
Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born in Algeria on August 1. As a teenager, he designed two collections for his imaginary paper couture house, and in 1954, he moved to Paris and won the third prize at the International Wool Secretariat.

1955
At the age of twenty-one, he took over as artistic director and his first collection, “Trapeze,” was a huge success.

1958
Meets Pierre Bergé (1930-2017). The two men would spend
their remaining professional and personal lives together until the death of the couturier.

1959
He began his costume design career with “Cyrano de Bergerac,” directed by Roland Petit (1924-2011), and later crafted costumes for various ballets, theater productions, music hall shows, and cinema.

1961
The House of Yves Saint Laurent was founded and opened its doors at 30 bis Rue Spontini in Paris shortly after.

1962
On January 29, the first Yves Saint Laurent collection was presented, hailed as one of the finest since Chanel. This decade featured iconic creations like “Mondrian dresses” (1965), the tuxedo-inspired “smoking” (1966), Pop Art dresses (1966), jumpsuits, and safari jackets (1968).

1964
Launch of his first perfume

1966
He discovered Marrakech, where he later designed many collections. The SAINT LAURENT rive gauche ready-to-wear line was launched, and the brand’s first boutique in Paris opened.

1974
The courre house moves to 5 Avenue Marceau in Paris.

1983
The first exhibition ever dedicated to a living couturier, “Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design,” was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

2002
The couture house closed, giving rise to the Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. In 2004, the foundation’s inaugural exhibition, “Yves Saint Laurent: A Dialogue with Art,” opened.

2008
Yves Sainr Laurent dies at the age of 7I.

2017
Pierre Bergé passes away at 86. Two museums dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent’s work are opened: one in Paris and the other in Marrakech.

2022
The “YVES SAINT LAURENT AT THE MUSEUMS” anniversary exhibition is held in six Parisian institutions.

2023
Exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo: 110 models are on display.