Pia Fries: Merian’s Surinam

by Christine Buci-Glucksmann (Contributor), Camille Morineau, Pia Fries

For the 14 diptychs that comprise the Merian's Surinam series, Swiss painter Pia Fries (born 1955) uses reproductions by the painter and botanical illustrator Maria Sybilla Merian (1647–1717). Merian's images of plants, flowers, animals and insects are elaborated upon with oil paint, from thin to thick impasto, and with varying degrees of obscuration, to establish an open and playful dialogue between the two women.

100 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2010

About the author

Philosopher and Professor Emeritus from University of Paris VIII specializing in the aesthetics of the Baroque, Japan and computer art. Her best known work in English is "Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity".