lacma: fabiola

Francis Alÿs, a Belgian artist, assembled a collection of nearly identical paintings of fourth-century saint Fabiola, currently on display at LACMA. All of these are based on a lost portrait by nineteenth-century French academic painter Jean-Jacques Henner. Collected from flea markets, antique shops, and private collections, there are more than three hundred Fabiola portraits, all of them copies of the lost original painting (most are paintings, but a handful are other mediums - needlepoint, jewelry, etc). The impact of these different replicas is quite impactful when viewed all together.

Francis Alÿs: Fabiola
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
September 7, 2008–January 4, 2009