Stephanie Fuller Gallery

Origin of the World

1996
Bronze, edition of 6
Signed Burns
59 × 55 × 46 cm

Origin of the World takes its title from Gustave Courbet’s famously direct painting L’Origine du monde, but approaches the subject through concealment rather than exposure.

A female torso is partially enveloped in pale drapery, with a camellia placed over the genitals. The flower acts as a gesture towards decorum while simultaneously drawing attention to what it conceals. The contrast between the soft folds of the drapery, the body and the deliberately prominent flower gives the sculpture both sensuality and humour.

The work was cast in two different skin colours within the edition, altering the relationship between the figure, the pale fabric and the pink camellia. As with many of Stephanie Burns’s bronzes of this period, colour is not simply decorative but an essential part of the sculpture’s construction and meaning.

The strongly modelled surface remains visible throughout. Drapery, flesh and flower are all rendered differently, yet retain the marks of their making. What might initially appear to be an intimate fragment of the body becomes a complex arrangement of concealment, revelation and theatrical display.

Provenance

Bronze edition of 6.

I — recorded
II — acquired by Armando, Buon Ricordo restaurant, Sydney
III — recorded
IV — recorded
V — recorded
VI — recorded

One cast entered the collection of Buon Ricordo restaurant, Sydney.

The Buon Ricordo camellia

During a private function in an upstairs room at Buon Ricordo, a guest removed the bronze camellia from the sculpture and took it home.

The restaurant owner later contacted the artist to ask what should be done. Burns suggested contacting the person who had booked the room and mentioning that the flower had disappeared.

The following day, the camellia was returned anonymously and restored to the sculpture.

The flower had apparently proved a little too tempting.

Exhibition history

1994 — Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Included in Stephanie McDonald’s solo sculpture exhibition. Origin of the World is visible in surviving installation photographs.

1995 — Delaney Galleries, Perth, Western Australia
Included in the Delaney Galleries exhibition and documented in surviving installation photography.

1996 — Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Exhibited during Stephanie Burns’s exhibition with Christine Abrahams Gallery. The artist’s ledger records a sale price of $10,000 through Abrahams.

2007–2011 — Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, New South Wales
Two differently patinated casts from the edition were owned by the artist and exhibited at Orion Sculpture Park.

29–30 October 2011 — Orion Sculpture Park Open Studio, Yass
Public opening.

5–6 November 2011 — Classic Yass / Yass Arts Trail, Orion Sculpture Park
Public exhibition/opening.

Bibliography

1994
David Matthews, catalogue essay accompanying Stephanie McDonald’s exhibition at Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

1995
David Bromfield, The West Australian, 29 August 1995, review/feature on Stephanie McDonald’s sculpture and Delaney Galleries exhibition.

1996
John McDonald, “Stephanie Burns: Recent Sculpture,” catalogue essay, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne, June 1996. Origin of the World was discussed in this 1996 catalogue.

2011
Orion Sculpture Park, Classic Yass / Yass Arts Trail material, documenting the sculpture park and the display of Stephanie Burns’s bronze works.