Touched by Fire

March 21 - April 30, 2009

Opening Reception for the Artist:
Saturday, March 21st, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Adamson Gallery presents "Touched by Fire," the first U.S. exhibition of works by French photographer Martin d'Orgeval.

In February of 2008, a fire destroyed the famous Parisian taxidermy shop Deyrolle, which had been founded more than one hundred and fifty years before. A cabinet of natural curiosities, the shop had been home to many priceless specimens from butterflies to polar bears. As the shop's friends and neighbors worked to raise money through auctions, donations, and even the sale of a limited edition scarf by Hermes, photographer d'Orgeval documented this unique moment in Deyrolle's history.

These large-scale photographs show the shop in the aftermath of the fire-the walls, floors and furniture are charred and damaged almost beyond recognition. However, natural sunlight filters through the wreckage, emphasizing the beauty of decay. In a striking juxtaposition, some of the animals stand unscathed among the rubble. The effect is one of a type of unreality, a theme that encompasses the practice of taxidermy and of preservation itself. With his work, d'Orgeval explores and redefines questions of nature, habitat, and temporality. Martin d'Orgeval lives and works in Paris and has exhibited all over Europe. A book of d'Orgeval's photographs of Deyrolle, Touched By Fire, will be published by Steidl in 2009.

Adamson Gallery
1515 fourteenth street nw
washington dc / 20005
202.232.0707
www.adamsongallery.com