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First: this project reflects on the relations between Jeff Wall‘s oeuvre and notions of photography,from the archaic medium principles, via classical photography from the early days, to thesophisticated applications of younger colleagues today. It takes up the historical establishment ofphotography as a major medium in the visual arts, a change in perception in which Jeff Wall hasplayed a major role.Second: the present project can be understood as a call for an attitude that celebratesinclusiveness and openness in the connections between the major canonical art forms. Each ofthem, however, still represents an autonomous body of qualities distinctive of the separate artforms that cannot be dismissed. This idea lies at the heart of Wall‘s trenchant critique of certainpractices of the Avant-gardes of the 1960s and later, such as Conceptual Art. He understandstheir insistence on the possibility of a tabula rasa as a starting-point for something new, as a markof exclusiveness.Third: this project defends, in a variety of ways, the premise that all great art essentially takes itsimportance and historical continuity from its autonomy. In Wall‘s own enterprise, this need forautonomy takes shape in a personal theory that explains the relation between the autonomy ofthe picture and the creative act that brings it into existence. ―Near Documentary‖, as Wall calls it,conveys that every great artwork is a construction that hopes to be experienced as somethingtruthful, and at the same time expects to be revealed as artifice. (1)Fourth: in the last line of understanding, this project stresses that all great art is in principle part of– and a response to – a greater, cyclical understanding of the history of the arts, as KarlSchnaase would have called this. (2) This historical component should not be misunderstood fora sort of chronological order. Jeff Wall understands his relation to figurative art of the classicalAvant-gardes (from Matisse to the Neue Sachlichkeit and later) as a continuing dialogue that stilltoday holds relevance. At the same time, this approach to art history as an open, dynamic forceallows us to understand the development of the medium of photography between the late 1960sand the 1990s as an important historical achievement in itself, leading to a strong affirmation of itslegitimate place in the realm of the visual arts.This ―Rashomon model‖ can be a tool in understanding how the different chapters of the book areintertwined. As a whole, it addresses the legitimate set of questions that every serious andcomprehensive art project calls up: what place will the project hold in future generations‘memory? What will its influence be over the chapters of art history to be written? Where will theproject surface in the canon of the visual arts as future generations shape that canon?The “Mallarméan model”This model, which takes its name from the famous French symbolic poet heavily influential in thehistorical Avant-gardes from the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, addresses the generic natureof the artwork and the space of the artist in the creative act. In his theoretical writings, Mallarméstresses that the persona of the artist is often characterized by an unbearable aura ofconceitedness (inherited from Romanticism) that inevitably leads to inner confusion. In his view,the artist‘s role is much less the expression of an attitude and has a much more noble character.He considers it a combination of two conditions. On the one hand, he places the gifted medium(the quintessential body of consciousness) who suddenly understands (par un éclat) the form ofthe artwork and the absolute need for it. This initial given, which Mallarmé repeatedly relates to a―constellation‖, is then completed by a second understanding of the artist as a dogged craftsmanwho realizes with painstaking effort, as closely as possible, his initial conception of the artwork.This part of the creative process calls for specific, medium-related skills, experience and métier,and the presence of a varied body of knowledge that can enrich the project.(3)8
A second Mallarmé-related motive brings in the figure of the spectator and serves as acounterpart to the first one. In fact, the spectator can only appreciate the artwork if he comes intodirect contact with the materialized form of the artist‘s initial idea. But when is this so? To thesame extent that the artist ultimately has no access to the purely conceptual idea that lies at thebasis of the artwork, the spectator can never access that essentially abstract realm. However, ifhis interest in the material form of the artwork is genuine, a variety of ―illuminated‖ sub-ideas canshed light on the artwork for the spectator. Sub-ideas are by definition related to the initialabstraction they stem from and are equal in their diversity. This Mallarméan model helps us toexplain why Jeff Wall‘s work has received such a prolific and varied critical fortune, and still doestoday. The majority of the approaches, interpretations and critiques dedicated to his work are thefruits of such an in-depth critical labour.The catalogue‘s structure, in combining dialogues with citations and a myriad of entries by verydifferent authors, is a direct response to this central idea of the Mallarméan constellation, thishigher mental order that attains its deepest significance in continually connecting related sourcesof knowledge and insights.The “Medium model”A third issue that needs addressing is the notion of medium. Jeff Wall‘s oeuvre can well beconsidered a single, ongoing artist‘s reflection on the changing conditions of his medium:photography. In using such a generic term, we have to remain alert because the word ―medium‖,when applied to the arts, functions as a linguistic ―shifter‖: it only receives its significance from thecontext in which it is used. And even so, one can impossibly pretend that the medium ofphotography is defined by the equipment needed and the techniques applied in the production ofa picture. Staying clear here from a more fundamental debate, we might for the time being define―medium‖ as an ―instrumentalizer‖ that operates in between the notion of métier and the creationof art.On another level, where the notion of the medium can be understood in its historicalconsequences, we could distinguish between a medium that has been stable in its developmentfor ages – painting, for instance – and a medium like photography that has gone through majorparadigmatic shifts over the last decades, slowly acquiring a more stable, definite shape. In all thestages of his development as an artist, Jeff Wall has been driven by a desire to make a significantcontribution to the affirmationof his medium in its canonical relation to other visual arts. And nowhere in his œuvre is this idea –that springs up in this exhibition as a leitmotif – so delightfully developed as in a Certain Gust ofWind.Jeff Wall stages this large-scale photograph, conceived as a ―remake‖ of a situation depicted in aprint by the famous Japanese master Hokusai, in 1993, some 160 years after it was first printed.If we compare it to the original copy, we are amazed to see how minutely Wall has reconstructeda scene that in fact amounted to pure chance: under the pull of a ―sudden gust of wind‖, one ofthe figures in the open suburban landscape lets go of a pile of papers that the wind blows away.In Wall‘s pictorial grammar, this picture can be read as a quintessential example of the artist‘sunderstanding of photography as a form of cinematography. On a deeper level, however,something else appears to be at stake here.Just like his somewhat older colleague Utamaro, Hokusai built his lasting reputation on his skilledpractice of Ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock printing. In late 18th-century Japan, this medium wasconsidered a popular art form – wholly distinct from traditional Japanese painting and sculpture –that gave daring evidence of a remarkable sense of liberty and spatial audacity in its depiction ofscenes of everyday life in a town‘s popular neighbourhoods. Although what remains fascinating isthe extent to which the conditions for approaching traditional environments in a novel manner9
Page 2 and 3: Table des matièresCommuniqué de p
Page 4 and 5: L‘exposition, produite par le Pal
Page 6 and 7: The Crooked Path is a picture of Je
Page 10 and 11: seemed closely related to the mediu
Page 12 and 13: laquelle j‟ai vu une manière de
Page 14 and 15: 7. Jeff Wall Pièce 2Walker Evans,
Page 16 and 17: 1995 Marian Goodman Gallery, New Yo
Page 18 and 19: David Nolens (1973, Belgique) est l
Page 20 and 21: que leurs parents, frères, sœurs
Page 22 and 23: Coordonnées du service de pressePa
Page 24 and 25: Annexe 2 : Liste des œuvres dans l
Page 26 and 27: Pier Paolo PasoliniAccattone, 1961C
Page 28 and 29: Robert FrankFuneral - St Helena, So
Page 30 and 31: Heinrich ZilleZwei Frauen Ziehen un
Page 32 and 33: Thomas StruthWolbecker Strasse, Mü
Page 34 and 35: Jeff WallThe Thinker, 1986Transpare
Page 36 and 37: Jeff WallBurrow, 2004Black and whit
Page 38 and 39: NIKON BeluxAvenue du Bourget 50B- 1

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