Paper Couture: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

A life-size mannequin in artist Isabelle de Borchgrave’s gown with lace, tulle and lavish ornamentation, sculpted entirely of paper. Based on the portrait of the Princess of Condé by Peter Paul Rubens.

Maria de Medici (1540-1557). 2007. Based on a portrait c. 1555 by Alessandro Allori. De Borchgrave worked with 10 studio assistants for a year on this series of 30 sculptures, detailed with jewelry, shoes and accessories.

Left: De Borchgrave used three different kinds of paper to create this Robe a la Francaise. Right: The Black King, 2009, inspired by a costume in Les Ballets Russes’ production of Sleeping Beauty.

Left: The Woman in Blue, 2009, after a costume by Pablo Picasso in 1919 ballet, Le Tricorne. Right: The Blue God 2009, after a costume created for a 1912 Russian ballet.

Elizabeth I  Court Dress, 2001. Inspired by a portrait by the studio of Nicolas Hilliard, c. 1575. Don’t miss the Italian boar on the front panel.

Left: A Russian Lady, 2009, after a costume design by Natalia Goncharova for the Ballet Russes’ “The Golden Rooster.” Right: Empress Eugenie Evening Dress and Shoe, 2001. Inspired by an 1856 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres portrait.

Left: De Borchgrave’s interpretation of the dress in a Francois Boucher painting of Madame de Pompadour. Right: This dress by de Borchgrave from 2007 is inspired by a portrait of Madame de Pompadour by Maurice Quentin de la Tour, a master of pastels.

From The World of Mariano Fortuny series: Delphos Dress and Coat, 2006-2007. Based on a Delphos dress, c. 1910-1930. Originally worn as dressing gowns, as fashion became more liberated in the 20th century, women embraced Fortuny’s dresses as evening wear.

Left: Known as a mantua, this gown is an example of style of dress required at court in 18th-century England. Right: De Borchgrave’s rendition of 1924 Red Fern of London dress.

Left: Delphos Dress and Tunic, 2008, inspired by Mariano Fortuny. Right: De Borchgrave’s Les Ballet Russes series features fantastical modernist costumes designed by artists like Picasso, Bakst, and Matisse.

JUST IMAGINE the intricacies involved in creating an 18th-century ball gown with its reams of ribbons and layers of lace, or the masterful pleats of a Fortuny evening ensemble. Then think about making them in paper.

Which is just what Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave has been doing since the mid-1990s. Almost 100 of her trompe l’oeil works are on display in a retrospective, “Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art From Paper” at the Frick Pittsburgh until January 6, 2019.

De Borchgrave brings fabric to life with ordinary paper, making us believe we’re seeing lace, brocade, silk, taffeta and embroidery through cutting, gluing and using a mix of acrylic paint, ink and metallic powder.  In her Brussels studio, she directs a staff, each one specializing in a part of a costume’s creation, whether building a wire structure, painting the ground colors, crafting jewelry or cutting trimmings.

As a child her first medium was paper, which she was able to use freely and cut up without fear of ruining anything precious. On museum visits with her mother, she discovered dresses through paintings and learned that she liked shape, sculpture, color and intricate details. She eventually went on to work in advertising, fashion and interior design. But it wasn’t until a 1994 visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and a Yves Saint Laurent exhibit that she had the brainstorm to create her own fashion-meets-fantasy works in paper.

The exhibition will feature examples from all the artist’s major series, including “Papiers à la Mode,” tracking 300 years of fashion history and “The World of Mariano Fortuny,” honoring the legacy of the Spanish designer. The one new piece is one the museum commissioned her to make—a paper dress inspired by the Frick’s “Portrait of Charlotte—Marguerite de Montmorency, Princess of Conde” by Peter Paul Rubens.

Admission to the museum is free for Frick members; $15 for adult nonmembers, $13, seniors 62 and older, students and members of the military, $8 for ages 6-16, free for children 5 and younger.  Hours are Tuesday through Sunday 10am-5pm, Friday, 10am-9pm. Address: The Frick is located at 7227 Reynolds St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 412-371-0600.

The exhibition has been organized by the Frick Pittsburgh in collaboration with four other American museums: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Society of the Four Arts and Artis-Naples and The Baker Museum. 

—Janet Kelly