2024

The Golden Landscapes series reflects a dream-like vision of the Swiss mountains, an ode to the beauty of these natural monuments. They recall the works of the Romantics who were fascinated by the dramatic dimension of this pristine environment. The landscapes draw inspiration from the neoclassical Geneva school of painting that celebrated the breathtaking and majestic character of the millennia-old Swiss Alps. Like religious icons, gold is used here to sacralize the subject. The Jungfrau, the Eiger, the Weisshorn and the Grindelwald are among the timeless landmarks of the country that have inspired so many stories of alpine adventure. Using traditional engraving techniques, Philippe Cramer nourishes Swiss mythology by recreating the contours and formal characteristics of these famous mountains using gold gilding. Having been distilled to their essence, these topographies become almost abstract, ethereal, as graphic monochrome gold compositions on the white marble slabs. The broken off edges brings the onlooker back to archeologic finds, maybe a long lost wall engraving depicting a holy land. Each work is unique, entirely hand-carved and reworked with gold leaf.