Made as a response to Claire Mort’s Brave Pants project.
I like cutting Picasso, and I thought it would be fun to pull Fernande Olivier out of that chair and give her some knickers. She looked so miserable.
An artist in her own right, Olivier was the daughter of a married man and ‘his mistress’. Raised by an abusive aunt, who arranged her marriage, she fled to Paris at nineteen, changing her name so her husband couldn’t find her.
Picasso (“Each time I leave a woman, I should burn her”) used to lock her in the studio.
54. Unseated, 2022.
Hand-stitched paper/canvas collage.
46 x 37.5cms, framed*
Body cut from an image of Femme Assise (Fernande Olivier) by Pablo Picasso, 1908. Oil on canvas. 150 x 100cms. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (below).
Big pants cut from an image of Kate Moss wearing a leotard by Julien Fournié. Mert and Marcus for Paris Vogue, 2011.
Feet of Kate Moss. Shoe designer unknown (any help much appreciated). Mert and Marcus for W magazine, 2005.
Copyright: Alison Aye, 2024.
*Framed by Ming, 29 Chatterton Road, Bromley. Oak and 99% UV glass.
Please note that I do not reproduce physical images to stitch, but use already printed materials. The paper comes from discarded books, newspapers, magazines, calendars and the like. Most of the books I cut are beyond repair, the rest are beyond my respect.
