
Photo: Ethan Harrison
1 / 1Francis Alÿs: Fabiola: An Investigation
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Alÿs's collection of Fabiola portraits, numbering in the hundreds and painted by amateurs and professionals alike, is the focus of this intriguing book. These paintings depict Saint Fabiola, a 4th-century saint who gave up all earthly possessions and devoted herself to the practice of Christian asceticism. All of the pictures in the collection are based on an original work—now lost—by the 19th-century French artist Jean-Jacques Henner. Not only does it examine the artist's exploration of collecting practices, but the publication also offers an unusual window into aesthetic, sociological, and anthropological values of the past century. In addition to cataloguing each of the Fabiola works, the book includes Saint Jerome’s eulogy for Fabiola (the primary source for Fabiola’s biography), followed by an interpretive text on evolving hagiographies and saints’ vitae, an analysis of the role of iconographic imagery in the practice of Catholicism, and art historical essays that focus on Alÿs’s practice.
Publication Details
- ISBN
- 9780300139167
- Publication date
- 2008
- Cover
- Softcover
- Pages
- 289 pages
- Dimension
- 7.5 x 11 in.
- Publication credits
- Edited by Karen Kelly and Lynne Cooke, with Bettina Funcke. Essays by David Morgan, Susan Laningham, Stephen Bann, Martha Buskirk, Lynne Cooke, and Saint Jerome
Related Artists
Francis Alÿs
Francis Alÿs was born in Antwerp in 1959. He lives and works in Mexico City and London.
Related Exhibitions

Exhibition
Francis Alÿs: Fabiola
September 20, 2007–April 6, 2008, Dia at the Hispanic Society
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