Louis Vuitton invited artist Ewa Juszkiewicz and artists duo Tursic & Mille to collaborate for 2023 Artycapucines collection.
Exuding an unbridled creativity, the 5th edition of the Artycapucines Collection combines the Maison’s emblematic Capucines with the unique vision of five leading contemporary artists: Liza Lou, Ziping Wang, Tursic & Mille, Ewa Juszkiewicz, and Billie Zangewa.
“That work is from a series of 'sentimental' paintings, which draw on the iconographic source of advertising images from the 1950s.” - Ida Tursic and Wilfried Mille
The yellow Taurillon leather body of Tursic & Mille's Artycapucines is covered by two "flower" shaped panels, a form regularly used by the artists for their canvases which is used here to reshape the Capucines. Unprecedented for the Capucines, it required particularly skilled work to create the resulting indent in the bag's base. The two panels ad as frames for the bag's decorative elements. The front features a detail from the artists' 2021 painting Tenderness, created using hundreds of thousands of white embroidery stitches to reproduce the original brushstrokes, which are then meticulously printed with rich colours to create a sense of depth. The same processes are used on the rear panel to transpose one of the artists' many-hued palettes, while the flop is embroidered with the word "Tenderness". The gracefully arched handle is made of charred cedarwood, which is also used for the inlay of the metal LV logo and the bag's feet that nod to the timber supports on the artists' canvases. The interior of the bag is lined with leather printed with painted coral-bell flowers, known as the désepoir du peintre or "painter's despair". Underneath the bag's flop is a playful embroidered cartoon dinosaur that first appeared in the artists' 2022 work The Souvenir with Dinosaur and Owl, and a small golden zip pull based upon a cigarette filter discarded by Wilfried Mille. The bag is completed with a wide yellow, detachable shoulder strap.
“I wanted the bag to reflect the essence and character of my paintings. By combining various techniques and materials, like the hand-dyed leather and multilayered printing, the final effect is beautiful and sophisticated.” – Ewa Juszkiewicz
Ewa Juszkiewicz' s striking Artycapucines is based upon her 2021 painting Ginger Locks. To match the original's gradated background, which moves from light to dark green, a particularly smooth type of calfskin is carefully hand-sprayed with point. The painting's striking portrait is then faithfully reproduced on this carefully prepared "canvas" using an innovative 3D digital printing technique that captures every detail in ultra-high definition. This same technique is also used to print the work onto the LV logo, which matched perfectly to the leather print allows the LV almost to disappear into the bag, only its gold edges revealing its presence. The bag's exterior is completed with a handmade string of gold-coloured pearls, attached like a necklace from under the metal LV. The beautifully crafted smooth leather and green-grey satin interior of the bag hides a detachable leather envelope which is inspired by the aesthetic of 1 8th century secret love letters and printed with a detail of the hoir from the portrait. The bag is finished with a shoulder strap, thinner thon the usual Capucines version and in the same smooth green leather as the bag.
More information here.
