Kimono 2 - Robe de cérémonie IV - Robe de célébration 1979-1983

1-4 — Kimono 2, 1979, wool and silk felted, silk fabric — H. 137 x W. 132 cm X D. 5 cm — 5-6 — Robe de cérémonie IV, 1980, wool and silk felted, silk fabric — H.180 cm x W. 150 cm X D. 5 cm — Collection Fondo de Arte DANAE - Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sophia Madrid, Spain. 7-11 — Robe de célébration, 1983, silk, cotton, silk screen printing — H.162 x W. 112 X D. 5 cm.

(…) “these kimonos, abundantly decorated with silks in now dull colours, suggest a garment of extreme refinement. This makes it possible to claim that they were probably devices intended for the holidays. It is then more difficult to advance other hypotheses on the social or religious function of kimonos, because no graphics or symbols have been woven, embroidered or sewn on them. Therefore, no iconographic document can be removed from these objects. Even if the artist, who disappears through his work, refuses us an iconographic reading code, she places us before a staging in which the kimonos, deprived of their characters, become both actors and scenery.” (…)               

© Suzanne Giroux 1983, excerpt from French text: Commentaires sur les Kimonos de Michelle Héon, Cahiers des arts visuels, n° 17, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.