Raymond E. Waydelich

Born in Strasbourg in 1938, Raymond Emile Waydelich took his first steps in the art world in his father’s workshop, where he trained as a wood sculptor. From 1953 onward, Waydelich attended the École des Arts Décoratifs in his hometown and later the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In the early 1960s, he served as an army photographer in Algeria. During this time he produced his first photographic reportages of archaeological excavation sites and gradually began to incorporate archaeology into his artistic work. Further journeys followed, including travels to Tunisia, Morocco, Greece, and Turkey. All these collected impressions and experiences play an essential role in his artistic practice. Ultimately, however, his home region of Alsace remained Raymond Waydelich’s greatest love and frequently serves as the setting of his works.

In his art, Waydelich brings together past, present, and future. A major milestone in his career was the action Crypt of the Future in 1995, which forms part of his broader project Archaeology of the Future. Equally central to Waydelich’s work is the figure of the seamstress Lydia Jacob, born in 1876, whose diary the artist discovered by chance at a flea market in 1973. From that moment onward, Raymond Waydelich decided to bring Lydia Jacob back to life by making her the protagonist of his imaginative pictorial narratives.

Across an impressively diverse range of media, different spatial and temporal layers intersect. These worlds are populated and animated by bizarre, sometimes speaking animals, creatures from classical mythology, historical figures, and icons of popular culture alike.