Overview

This book is Michel Comte’s personal analysis of the neoclassical style. Employing an eclectic approach including original photos, reproductions of neoclassical treasures, and reworked images of masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s Pietà and Jacques-Louis David’s The Coronation of Napoleon, Comte traces the classical aesthetic and its rebirth as the neoclassic throughout the ages. From the Parthenon to Gianni Versace’s designs, from Bernini to Albert Speer’s Reich Chancellery, the style has persisted and transformed itself again and again, as empires rose and fell around it. In Comte’s words, the neoclassic demonstrates a “dream of perfection,” one we are seduced by even as we know its danger: “History tells us that ‘grandeur’ is destined to fail.” Beauty remains. Michel Comte

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9783958297517

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Born in Zurich in 1954, the multimedia artist Michel Comte studied in France and England, and began his career in art restoration, specializing in contemporary art; his restoration works include those by Andy Warhol, Yves Klein and Miró. In 1979 Comte met Karl Lagerfeld who gave him his first commercial assignment for Chloé and later Chanel. He has since collaborated with Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair and Interview, and with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, Calvin Klein, BMW, Ferrari and LVMH, among many others. Comte later traveled to conflict zones to raise funds for humanitarian projects such as “People and Places with No Name.” In 2008 he met Ayako Yoshida and has since dedicated more time to art and personal projects; together they produced their first 3D feature film The Girl From Nagasaki in 2013. Comte opened “Neoclassic,” his exhibition on the rise and fall of neoclassicism, at the National Gallery of Parma in fall 2016. He has completed four exhibitions from his “Light” series: at Museo Maxxi, Rome; La Triennale, Milan; Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing; and most recently at Dirimart, Istanbul. “Light” is a study of natural landscapes through large-scale sculptures, photography, video installations and projections, exploring the impact of environmental decline on the world’s glaciers and glacial landscapes. Comte’s books with Steidl include Aiko T (2000), Michael Schumacher: Driving Force (2003) and Light (2016).

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