The Treachery of Images

© Bertrand Fèvre

The first prize of the International Creation of Limoges Porcelain Award was given to the 33-piece suspended sculpture of porcelain, Ceci n’est pas (70 x 100 x 70 cm) by Bertrand Fèvre, invoking the infamous Rene Magritte painting, La trahison des images (1928–29). The artist, playing with materiality, utility, scale, volume, symbology, and perspective, confronts the inherent duality and contradictions of the quotidian, while praising issues of universality, heritage and craftsmanship. For three generations, the Raynaud family has created the renown Limoges porcelain chinaware. Limoges, in west-central France, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is world-famous for its 19th century porcelain, medieval enamels on copper and oak barrels used in aging Cognac.