PAST EXHIBITIONS

Throughout his career, Wolfgang Tillmans has captured the vulnerability of bodies, people, and objects alike. His works have epitomized a new kind of subjectivity in photography, pairing intimacy and playfulness with social critique and the persistent questioning of existing values and hierarchies.

In his practice, portraits are a constant. Be they of close friends, collaborators, strangers or public figures, his portraits possess a rare psychological intensity, as the artist reveals the singularity of each of his subjects. He creates empathy by paying close attention.
Though it seems impossible to identify the subject of the portrait haircut (2007), as the person is photographed from behind, the work paradoxically creates a feeling of great intimacy.
The title and subject of Torso (2013) are nods to sculpture from antiquity. The tight framing of the anatomy seems to be referencing Belvedere Torso, an ancient statue admired by Michelangelo that has fascinated artists and the public with both its artistry and fragmentary nature since the 15^th century.
Self-portraits have appeared in Tillmans’ work since 1986. The work London Olympics (2012) is a complex composition that seems, at first glance, to capture a mundane moment. Tillmans appears twice in this picture: his leg can be seen in the foreground and, in the background, he is lying on a bed, aiming his camera at the mirror that reflects the out-of-shot scene. The image’s monumental size lets the viewer become immersed in the scene. The other group scene presented here, Summer party (2013), echoes Edouard Manet's celebrated canvas, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe.
Still lifes also hold a prominent place in his work. still life, Bourne Estate (2002) cannot be viewed without recalling 17^th-century Dutch paintings. The presence of crockery and the domestic context bring to mind the great compositions of the golden age. still life, Bourne Estate II (2007) is its more contemporary counterpart, featuring a Wi-Fi box and an electric heater, while the other elements, such as rocks and shells, echo the classical genre. The still life of a houseplant, Zimmerlinde (Michel) (2006), constructs a quasi-abstract composition from a detail. This feeling of magnification is further intensified by the photograph’s monumental size.
In hanging tulip (2020) and Flatsedge (2019) the subject almost fills the entire picture, embodying the artist’s gaze on everyday things, forging a tangible connection between photography and sensual experience.
Nature, a recurring subject in his work, is also approached through its relationship to humans and the city: Adalbert Garden, Winter (2009), shoe (grounded) (2014).
His end of winter (a) (2005), depicting the remains of a party in the middle of which sits a large print, belongs to a corpus of photographs taken by the artist in his studio. For the artist, the studio, that place of production, is also an exhibition space in which life meets art.
For himmelblau (2005), a more abstract, sky-blue, monochromatic composition, Tillmans photographs the architecture of an inner courtyard. The perfectly perpendicular shot overcomes the construction’s verticality and becomes a photo of a corridor.
With these works which belong to the Collection, the Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo is pleased to introduce the artist’s oeuvre to audiences in Japan, within the framework of the Hors-les-murs programme of the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

About the Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton serves the public interest and is exclusively dedicated to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20^th-century works to which their inspirations can be traced. The Collection and the exhibitions it organises seek to engage a broad public. The magnificent building created by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and already recognized as an emblematic example of the 21st-century architecture, constitutes the Fondation’s seminal artistic statement.
Since its opening in October 2014, the Fondation has welcomed more than eight million visitors from France and around the world.
The Fondation Louis Vuitton commits to engage in international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, including other foundations and museums such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg (Icons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection in 2016 and The Morozov Collection in 2021), the MoMA in New York (Being Modern: MoMA in Paris), and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism) among others. The artistic direction also developed a specific “Hors-les-murs” programme taking place within the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, which are exclusively devoted to exhibitions of works from the Collection. These exhibitions are open to the public free of charge and promoted through specific cultural communication.