Cette Petite Lettre Performance

In a one-day performance work, Anna Falcini explored her ongoing conversation with the late Welsh artist Gwen John (1876-1939) through two performance works. Developed from her recent research of the archive of Gwen John materials at the Rodin Museum Paris, the work reflected upon the intensity of Gwen John’s emotional and spiritual relationships that coincided with her life in the Paris suburb of Meudon.

Cette Petite Lettre recreates a letter of 1909-12 by Gwen John to her lover, Auguste Rodin that threw light upon her feelings during their intimate relationship. In the letter, Gwen John makes reference to a sculpture called Whistler’s Muse, by Rodin that she was modelling for and she expresses her frustration that he did not meet her in person but instead sent his Secretary. She describes how this action had turned her heart to ice.

Using her mouth to hold a paintbrush, Falcini recreated the whole letter on to a large sheet of paper. The technique echoed the limits and boundaries of John’s relationship and the use of the mouth as a drawing tool, was a provocation on the sensual nature and descriptions of her desire to kiss and speak with Rodin. The mouth became a curious drawing appendage, creating an unfamiliar script on the page through a laborious process; a modern-day witness to this complicated and unconventional relationship.