Isabella Ducrot
"Bella Terra", 2023
Pigments, pencil, and China ink on China paper
12 ¼ x 17 ¾ inches (31 x 45 cm)
Courtesy of the Artist and Petzel, New York
Photo credit: Jason Mandella

Selected by Julia Trotta

Isabella Ducrot (b. 1931, Naples, Italy) is an artist and writer with a career spanning four decades. Ducrot’s oeuvre is deeply rooted in an extraordinary and enduring interest in fabrics, that is central to both her pictorial works and writings. Sourced during extensive travels over the course of her life, Ducrot has amassed an exquisite collection of fabric that spans centuries and bears origins from across Asia and Eastern Europe – including Russia, Turkey, China, India and Tibet. She considers these fabrics as an art form in and of themselves, to which she has dedicated herself to many years of focused study and views essential to her education. Employing diverse media – including pencil, pastel, ink and watercolor, which she applies to rare papers – her works compress an array of cultural references, ranging from philosophy to folklore and textile weaving. At both intimate and expansive scales, her work reflects a fascination with repetition, form, and color, informed by the rare textiles in her collection. Ducrot’s work was the subject of a recent solo exhibition, Profusione at le Consortium Museum, Dijon and her installation, titled Big Aura was featured at the Dior Haute Couture SS 2024 runway show at the Musee Rodin, Paris. Ducrot has presented solo exhibitions at Petzel Gallery, New York, Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Sadie Coles, London and Standard (Oslo), Oslo.