Between Two Heads: executions, burials and disinterment, 1649-1960: Delaroche, Cranch, Cromwell and Charles 1st at the Musee de Beaux-Arts de Nimes.

这既是一项以实践为基础的美术研究，也是一项历史研究课题。它的背景来自于过去15年来出现的一种艺术实践：艺术家介入、研究和重新安排博物馆公共空间中的收藏品或物品；从而在当代和旧的之间创造了一种碰撞，通过艺术实践和管理的混合流派产生了关于过去、博物馆以及图像和物品在历史上和随着时间的推移被展示和使用的方式的新知识、新观念和新意义。这个项目的背景是保罗·德拉罗什于1831年在尼梅的美术博物馆绘制的一幅大型沙龙历史画，描绘了克伦威尔在处决后和埋葬前在白厅的棺材里凝视着被斩首的查尔斯一世的身体。这幅画于1834年被赠送给尼姆，至今仍在展出。许多作家描述了这一事件，其中包括狄更斯和吉佐(历史学家、法国政府部长和德拉罗什的朋友)，以及查尔斯一世的私人新郎和仆人托马斯·赫伯特爵士的回忆录。这一“干预项目”的一个目的是呈现克伦威尔自己头部的数字投影，与德拉罗什的照片相对或旁边，就像1950年拍摄的照片中的那样。(克伦威尔于1658年去世并埋葬，1660年修复时被挖掘出来，死后被处决。他的头像在许多地方展出，最终成为一件稀奇的东西。它是由一位名叫克兰奇的艺术家于1799年绘制的，并在1930年的S和1950年的S中被拍摄，最终于1960年被重新埋葬在剑桥西德尼·苏塞克斯学院的一个秘密地点。这次展览不仅呈现了两种不同艺术媒体(数字投影和19世纪绘画)之间的碰撞，也展示了两个头部的形象和历史之间的碰撞，因此这个项目的主标题是两个头部。通过这种视觉人工制品和展示的使用，另一个目标是反思1649年至1960年之间的一系列日期，这是这一离奇叙事及其历史的核心。来自剑桥大学西德尼·苏塞克斯的市政厅和伦敦博物馆的物品将与视频投影和德拉罗什的绘画一起使用并放置在画廊中。有两件作品将特别展出，一件是克兰奇的克伦威尔头像，1799年在邦德街附近的房间里展出，另一件是1660年S的匿名画，画中查尔斯一世头朝下，伴随着代表英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰的悲痛的女性寓言人物。此外，还计划出版一本小型出版物，由四篇散文和少量插图组成。这本出版物是展览的一部分，但它不是一个目录，而是伴随着展览，并以更详细的方式发展以视觉形式呈现的主题和想法。该出版物将由导言和不同作者的文章组成，每篇文章的最大长度约为5000字。它们将涵盖克伦威尔头部的历史和史学，头部和凝视的肖像，文物的传统，博物馆干预和策展的实践，文学影响，以及德拉罗什对历史，特别是英国历史的图片和方法的分析。它将分别以英文和法文两卷出版，并附有出版物正文和展览插图的光盘。该研究项目将有助于艺术家在美术馆内使用策展手段，以质疑和重新定义通常在那里发现的历史建筑和美学假设，并将展示美术馆/画廊空间和机构的史学实践。

This is both practice-based fine art research and an historical research project. Its context derives from a 'genre' of art practice which has emerged over the last fifteen years; that of artists intervening into, researching and rearranging collections or objects in the public spaces of museums; thereby creating a collision between the contemporary and the old, generating through a mixed genre of art practice and curatorship new knowledge, perceptions and meanings about the past, the museum and the way in which images and objects are displayed and used in history and over time.The context of this project is a large salon history painting in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Nimes painted by Paul Delaroche in 1831 depicting Cromwell contemplating and gazing at the beheaded corpse of Charles 1st in his coffin in Whitehall after execution and prior to his burial. The painting was presented to Nimes in 1834 where it still is on display. This depicted incident is described by a number of authors among them Dickens and Guizot (an historian, French government minister and friend of Delaroche) and in the memoirs of Sir Thomas Herbert, personal groom and servant to Charles 1st.One aim of this 'intervention project' is to present, opposite or next to the Delaroche picture, a digital projection of Cromwell's own head as it appears in photographs taken of it in the 1950's. (Cromwell, after his death and burial in 1658, was disinterred at the restoration of 1660 and posthumously executed. His head was displayed in a number of places, eventually becoming a curiosity. It was painted in 1799 by an artist called Cranch, and photographed both in the 1930's and 1950's, eventually being reburied in a secret location in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1960. This exhibition presents a collision not only between two different art media (a digital projection and a 19th century painting) but also between the image and history of two heads, hence the main title of this project Between Two Heads. Through this use of visual artefacts and display, a further objective is to reflect on a series of dates between 1649 and 1960 central to this bizarre narrative and its history. Items from the Muniment Room in Sidney Sussex Cambridge and the Museum of London will be used and placed in the gallery with the video projection and Delaroche's painting. Two items in particular will be displayed, Cranch's painting of Cromwell's head made on the occasion of its display in rooms off Bond Street in 1799 and an anonymous painting of the 1660's depicting Charles 1st with his head sown back on accompanied by grieving female allegorical figures representing England, Scotland and Ireland.In addition a small publication is planned consisting of four essays and a small number of illustrations. This publication is part of the exhibition but, rather than being a catalogue, will accompany the exhibition and develop in more discursive ways the themes and ideas presented in visual form. The publication will consist of an introduction and essays by different authors, the maximum length of each essay being approximately 5000 words. They will cover the history and historiography of Cromwell's head, the iconography of heads and gazing, the tradition of relics, the practice of museological interventions and curation, literary influences and an analysis of Delaroche's picture and approach to history, particularly British history. It will be presented in separate English and French volumes and accompanied by a CD of the publication texts and illustrations of the exhibition. The research project will contribute to the use of curatorial devices by artists within a fine art museum in order to question and redefine the historical constructions and aesthetic assumptions normally found there and will demonstrate historiographical practice in the spaces and institutions of the art museum/gallery.