Deborah de Robertis has been known for her extreme nude performance arts. Last weekend, she stole the limelight once again after she posed nude in front of the iconic Edouard Manet Olympia painting. Ms. de Robertis had imitated the painting’s confident and reclining pose.
However, unlike her first performance at the museum, this time, Ms. de Robertis wore a GoPro on her head to capture the reaction of the people in the museum.
The nude performance artist told The Independent that she aims her art to “alter the usual roles.”
I make the models in the paintings active and no longer passive. I reverse the usual relationship between the models and the public.
Deborah de Robertis added that her last show at Manet’s Olympia brought the painting to life.
“…after being stared at for one and a half centuries, came alive last weekend and made a film of the people who were looking at her.”
Aside from her provocative nude performance arts, Deborah de Robertis is also a film-maker and photographer. She studied drama and arti in Brussels. Ms. de Robertis said as an artist, she is looking for “a sponsor or a patron or an investor.”
Deborah de Robertis also made waves when she posed nude in front of of Gustave Courbet’s Origin of the World in May 2014. At the time, she did not have a GoPro with her to capture the live reactions of the people in Musée d’Orsay. Fortunately, some people in the audience were able to capture her live performance.
On both occasion, she was arrested by the police. Musée d’Orsay told AFP that they had treated de Robertis with grace.
“There were many people in front of the painting. Security guards responded well, they closed the room and asked her to get dressed. As she refused, the police were called and removed her,” said the museum spokeswoman.
Deborah de Robertis was charged with indecent exposure.
Deborah de Robertis vs Musée d’Orsay
Deborah de Robertis stands by her art and called out on the hypocrisy of the Musée d’Orsay’s actions.
In 1865, Musée d’Orsay also received mixed reviews when they first introduced the painting of a naked woman. It was considered to be extremely lewd at the time because art form in that era usually come in the form of religious figures and dream nymphs, according to The Guardian.
Ms. de Robertis, on the other hand, had claimed that she is merely representing the model in the painting “but in a contemporary setting.”
“I’d taken some friends along as a kind of false audience and set up a mise-en-scene so they’d applaud if the situation got difficult, but other spectators in the real audience were clapping too. The guards were trying to clear the room, but not everyone wanted to leave.”
The nude performance artist further explained that the museum has never had any issue with using sexuality to attract people in. The museum even featured pornographic films before.
“…but when it comes to a contemporary artist performance like mine, they don’t recognize it as art, and they censor it,” said de Robertis.
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They like nudity in art, they just don’t want it to be moving. I don’t understand how you can have this kind of exhibition if you are not prepared to go to examine nudity in the real world.
Deborah de Robertis’ lawyer, Tewfik Bouzenoune, said the museum’s response on the nude performance artist is sending a “seriously negative message.”
“Deborah de Robertis is an artist. She was just doing her job. She made a performance and ended up in a police cell. We have to ask what kind of impact this sort of censorship has on the creativity of artists if they have the sword of legal action hanging over them.”
[Photo by Deborah de Robertis/Facebook ]
