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Wreckage in May
Wreckage in May

Wreckage in May

Artist (born 1974)
Date2015
Medium16mm film transferred to HD. Edition 1 of 3 + 2 Artists' Proofs
DimensionsDuration: 35 mins
ClassificationsVideo
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Purchased, 2017. © Declan Clarke.
Object number2068
DescriptionWreckage in May is part of a trilogy of films that explores the effect of industrialisation and modernism in Europe. The last of the trilogy, Wreckage in May focuses on the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871 and the role played by the Impressionist painters in how they visualised urban modernity. It also examines how this role developed through 20th century film and photography. The film considers the militant role of the artist Gustave Courbet in the Paris Commune and how it contrasts with the Impressionists, the younger generation of artists whom he had inspired. Wreckage in May was commissioned by Hugh Lane Gallery in 2015 and shot in the galleries. It features Courbet’s The Diligence in the Snow and works by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Edgas Degas, Pierre-August Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot.
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