Description
HOW I GOT THE INSPIRATION TO SHOW THE LOUVRE IN A WAY NO ONE HAD EVER LOOKED AT IT BEFORE.
“The Louvre displays thousands of paintings, thousands of sculptures and thousands of other art objects. But the largest museum in the world has also hundreds of windows acting as frames for the most beautiful and often unexpected views of Paris. This prospect is made possible by the fact that the Louvre complex stands right at the heart of Paris, granting a panoramic view over the entire city as well as sights and insights into the various courtyards of the building – The Louvre as the star of Paris and the star of the world of art.
Bearing all this in mind, I tried to meet the photographic challenge to represent the famous museum from inside outwards and from outside inwards, in all seasons and at all times of the day and the night. The photos were to be taken closed windows acting as additional refractive lenses, distorting or defocusing the images. Glass has the fantastic property to adopt two states, being either clear as water or acting as a mirror, showing both inside and outside.
When I had got Monsieur Henri Loyrette, Director of the Louvre, enthusiastic about the project, I had cleared the way for my journey through the world of art. For one year, I roamed the sacrosanct corridors, rooms and halls, covering nearly 500 km from the basement to the attic of the largest museum in the world, with roughly 500 windows offering splendid views on the beautiful city”.
Lois Lammerhuber
Daniel Soulie wrote a brilliant essay on art and photos, and Henri Loyrette, Director of the Louvre, contributed the preface.
