Tombeau idéal de Ferdinand Cheval

The output is an installation comprised of a group of 90 black and white photographs. The subject of the work was Postman Cheval’s Idéal Palace, a monument built by Ferdinand Cheval in Hauterives, France, between 1879 and 1912. Through a selection of natural, cultural, architectural and institutional motifs, the installation displayed the monument’s myriad of forms and translated its ‘architecture of images’ into an exhibition form. Cheval drew upon imagery assembled in world expositions and reproduced as printed matter. Froment’s method reversed Cheval’s process, reconverting sculptural forms into visual images, as though visually dismantling the building piece by piece. The vast ensemble of photographs in turn created an environment of its own, providing the viewer with a stage from which to re-imagine the monument. Conceived as a large photographic survey, production took place over two years. The research was supported, produced and shown internationally between 2014 and 2017. It has been presented in 4 international solo exhibitions and 2 group exhibitions. Total audience figures are in excess of 700,000.