Jean LETOURNEUR (1954) - Lot 187

Jean LETOURNEUR (1954) After Les portes de l'Ijtihad Digital print, 2024, on aluminum dibon, no. 2/30 110 x 110 cm The Arabic word ijtihad designates the effort of reflection that ulemas or muftis and Muslims undertake to interpret the founding texts of Islam. To give shape to his vision of the mythical gates of Ijtihad, Jean Letourneur worked from a life cast, reshaping the relief with clay. The result is a large-format plaster cast (3m by 3m). In 2006, this was transposed into aluminum, and this large metal work entered a private collection in Marrakech. The composition of the Ijtihad doors is based on a vertical axis of symmetry: the left-hand door (in relief) is symmetrical to the right-hand door (in relief) as a whole, but certain details have been transformed to accentuate the positive-negative effect between the two doors. An avid photographer, Jean Letourneur takes photos of his doors himself. Exhibition : 2007, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, fondation de Coubertin: Le spectre des jardins (plaster).