t the end of October, notable artist Jeff Koons released his second installment of high-end Louvre souvenirs. The collaboration with Louis Vuitton, marketed as Louis Vuitton – A Masters Collaboration with Jeff Koons, resounded with much success, featuring history’s most iconic artists: Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The second installment will feature Èdouard Manet, Nicolas Poussin, J.M.W. Turner, Paul Gaugin, François Boucher, and Claude Monet.
Like the original collection, each item features an iconic work from one of the six classic artists. Emblazoned on the front is the artist’s name in gold lettering and Koons’s initials paired with the “LV” monogram. This reconfiguration of the Louis Vuitton monogram to bear Koons’s initials in tandem with their own is notable. This is the first time in the fashion house’s history that the logo has been reshaped. In addition to this, each bag also features a tag of the inflatable rabbit, an iconic figure in Koons’s work, and inside is a biography and portrait of the Master whose work has been recreated.
The public reaction to the collaboration has been mixed. The bags garnered much attention for not only their wittiness, but also for their aesthetics. While some art and fashion lovers fawn over the collection, others condemn Koons for taking the works of the Old Masters and placing them into a conversation of modernity. The masterpieces of these artists, once displayed in the confines of a museum, are now suddenly accessible to the masses in the form of pocketbooks, backpacks, iPad covers, pouches, and wallets. Koons has found a way to modernize the Old Masters and classical artists’ works, a concept that is hard to digest by some. The promotional campaign is controversial in and of itself: the works featured on the bags are digitally modified and become 3-dimensional. It is almost as if the viewer is interacting with the paintings. The figures move and dance across our screens to a hip-hop soundtrack in the background. Everything about these promotional videos and collections scream modernity, a concept not associated with the Old Masters or classic artists. Undoubtedly, Koons has taken the old and transformed it to appeal to those in the digital age; Koons and Louis Vuitton even went so far as to release the promotional video for the second installment of the collection on Instagram.
Images Courtesy of: Louis Vuitton