L'Abbaye du Thoronet , 2011 © Jens Knigge
PHOTOKUNST Fasanenstr. 69 10719 Berlin Allemagne
Le Thoronet - La Tourette
Synergy of the Arts
Platinum Prints by Jens Knigge
Romanesque masonry, rounded arches and cushion capitals, juxtaposed with concrete cuboids, pillars and walls – at first sight, Jens Knigge’s photography thematises two seemingly completely different examples of architecture. The Cistercian abbey at Le Thoronet was built in Provence between 1160 and 1190, according to the specifications of Bernard de Clairvaux. The unknown master builder used the local limestone to merge the staggered, multi-levelled construction into the surrounding area, while world-famous architect Le Corbusier created a solitary, landscape-dominating edifice in the construction of the Sainte-Marie de la Tourette convent between 1956 and 1960. Like a marooned spaceship, the compact large-scale structure, a training institution of the French Dominican order, perches on the slopes of a former manor estate near Lyon. For Corbusier, as a minimalist, Le Thoronet was nevertheless a paragon, an „architectural manifestation of truth, silence and strength“. In order to transfer the conceptual purity and spirituality of mediaeval sacred art to contemporary spatial perception, he utilised the square as a geometrical element, for instance in the honeycomb-like apertures in the outer façade of the living quarters, and for the walls of the common rooms, with their rhythmical waves of glass openings and solid concrete slabs.
Couvent de La Tourette / © FLC/VG Bild-Kunst
© Jens Knigge, 2011
Both edifices mirror the spirituality of monastic life, with the stylistic vocabulary reduced to an absolute minimum. Jens Knigge’s photographs also apply the principles of immersion and reflection, focusing on light and space and the recognition of the beauty of the bleak and the complexity of the simple. The power of sparingly applied architectural details, the structure of the surfaces and the character of the materials, the roughly-hewn or smoothed stone – all these are transferred in a sophisticated and contrasted manner in laboriously created platinum prints. „The soul must seek the light by following the light“, wrote Bernard de Clairvaux. The art of photography is light, and the photographer Jens Knigge bridges an impressive span between the architectures and the periods, while simultaneously inviting contemplation.
Susanne Schmid
Couvent de La Tourette / © FLC/VG Bild-Kunst
© Jens Knigge