Artist: Xavier de Richemont
Xavier de Richemont is a French video artist known for monumental, highly personal historical projections. Based in Angers, France, he trained in painting at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence. His work merges this painterly foundation with video, projected at architectural scale onto cathedrals, museums and civic landmarks.
He designed his first large-scale projection in 1996, a nighttime scenographic tour in Vendée, France. In 2002 he founded the Festival of Lights in Chartres, serving as its sole artist and artistic director for a decade, a role that shaped his approach to site-specific, narrative-driven light work.
Over the following decades, de Richemont's projections have appeared across France, Mexico, Morocco, India, Peru, Germany and the United States, including a long-running installation on one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the U.S., in San Antonio, Texas. His work has also marked national and civic milestones, from bicentennial and independence commemorations to anniversaries of historic institutions, and he continues to develop new projects internationally.
De Richemont's style is defined by lyrical strokes, slow movement and a profusion of texture, blending abstraction and figuration with narration and music. Rooted in extensive on-site research, his projections aim to reveal the underlying spirit and history of the architecture and places he illuminates.
xavierderichemont.com
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About the artwork:
An Hommage
The work references the four human values embodied by the Memorial. It is not a historical fresco, but rather a conceptual tetralogy portraying the values that underpin the bravery and sense of duty of the soldiers whose memory 100 years later remains a lesson in patriotism, courage and sacrifice – a lesson in honor. We will thus see the four guardians successively dominating the battlefield and then entering it, wielding their swords in combat or protective stances, each garment in symbolic colors.
The patriotic guardian arbitrates the combat between the belligerents – the men are fortified by their faith and their will to conquer; the horses of the frieze charge from both sides, the fight is head on.
The courageous guard faces all the dangers of war, heavily chained to an ancient oak tree until the strength of courage breaks the prisoner’s blackened chains.
The heroic soldier of sacrifice gives his life to save his country, joining the battle to protect the weakest, but perishes in the chaos.
The guardian of honor appears on the Tower, resplendent with medals and glory. The other guardians surround him, merging into a single figure: the angel of peace.
An Hommage is a mixed “Franglish” title, half in English and half in French. I want this work to be an homage to Franco-American friendship, love and shared universal human values through our common historical past, especially linked here through World War I.
