Contemporary narratives in American prints.

6 Pages·2000·0.39 MB·English

Whitney Museum of American Art
Champion
at
CONTEMPORARY
TEMPO
NARRATIVES,
fi 1\
1 I
From its earliest beginnings in the fifteenth century,
^TEMPORARY printmaking has been the artistic medium most con-
—
cerned with narration that is, with the communica-
tion ofimages and ideas. In Northern Europe, this nar-
iRRATIVESm ration first took form in woodcut images of saints,
depictions of biblical stories, and illustrations for;
political broadsides and religious tracts. In Italy, the
AMERICAN PRINTS
early engravers favored classical and allegorical sub-
jects. Vrtists soon realized that
printinaking could also dissemi-
nate images to wider and more
diverse audiences across Europe.
A Raphael fresco in Rome, once
engraved on a copperplate, could
be shared with artists in Paris,
Loudon, or Haarlem. Printinaking.
in short, could transcend geo-
graphical barriers.
In our contemporary world,
television, satellite transmission,
and the Internet have made geog-
raphy irrelevant, while the instan-
laneity of electronic communica-
tion has now erased the bander of
lime. These new modes of com-
munication have also intensified
the narrative as a vital force with-
in prinlmaking and the other
artistic media. The firm belief in
—
the power of the narrative the
—
communicated idea is essential
I-HANK MOOKI". in these prints of the 1980s and 1990s from the
litalSifins, 1997 Museum's Permanent Collection. .Insl as the artists
represent the diversity ofthe contemporary art milieu,
the narratives thej create take on many, sometimes
surprising, guises. However distinct these prints sccin
from each other, or from the older work of Mbrccht
Diner, William Hogarth, or llonore Daumicr, each
.
image slill has a laic to tell, an insight to offer, and a interruptions that break his concentration and cause
statement to make. his hand to jolt and jiggle the drawn line. Bach jiggle
In l//As' Suite, Sue Coe, with her typical bold- in a preceding line is repeated in the next line, thus
ness, records the frustrated isolation and dejection, creating a cumulative record ofthe merely ordinary in
the overwhelming sense ofabandonment, etched into our lives.
the faces of the patients in a Galveston hospital. In While the ordinary takes visible form in
contrast with the sad fatalism ofCoe's literal depiction Quantum dray, the extraordinary events of life are
of pain and suffering, frank Moore's I Hal Signs con- the subject ofJoan Snyder's work. To convey anguish
veys a sense of choice and hope through allegory. over the loss of a child in Things Hare Tears and He
Each Ofthe tour"landscapes" in this suite is composed Know Suffering, Snyder uses gouges and other wood
entirel> of symbols that underscore the artist's cut tools with emotional, almost violent expressive-
message that well-being depends on the habits and ness. In marked contrast, Steve (lianakos employs the
choices made by each individual. impersonal, "how-to" drawing
Moore's symbols are contempo- style found in mid-century instruc-
rary manifestations ofthose found tional manuals to convey the cal-
in emblem books dating back (o culated cruelty and the irrational
the sixteenth and seventeenth destruction of young lives in the
centuries. For example, life and eight lithographs of Missing
health are represented by the sun, Children. His stylistic detachment
a rainbow, and a sheaf of wheat; rather than depersonalizing the
death and evil by bat wings, violence, makes it seem all the
coffins, snakes, and the moon; fate more vicious.
is a gloved hand: and wisdom is an Issues of identity, whether
owl. Kelix Gonzalez-Torres also personal or racial, can lake many
turns to a conceptual symbolism forms in contemporary printmak-
in commemorating the premature ing. Jane Hammond brings a new
deaths of friends and lovers in twist to the conventions of Euro-
Untitled (Sand). Just as each sand grain is unique, so FELIX GONZALEZ- pean mapmaking in the seventeenth and eighteenth
too is each set ofhuman footprints across a beach. And IORR1 v centuries, where a cartouche oftrophies and allegori-
though many have passed over this beach, the sand Untitled(Sand), 1993-94 cal figures often surrounded an image of the explorer
"remembers" the passing ofeach individual. (detail) or his patron. In "The Honderfulness of Downtown",
A conceptual construct is equally essential in Hammond is the heroic, armor-clad explorer present
Hill Wheelock's delineation of the mundane events of ing her world ofLower Manhattan. In a modern coun-
daily life in his series of etchings Quantum Gray. terpart to the vignettes of exotic native villages and
Beneath a painstaking repetition of hand-drawn lines natural wonders found in early maps. Hammond scat-
that repeat a straight, ruled line is a year-long diary of ters images ofher studio and home, street corners and
children crying, dogs barking, claps of thunder, ring- buildings in her neighborhood, her laundry and the
—
ing phones, doors slamming, and other noises and greengrocer the landmarks that are an essential part
—
ofthe routines ofcommonplace daily life.
The ordinary also has its place in Lorna
Simpson's Counting. Through images of a female
torso, the tight coil of braided hair, and the locally
kilned bricks of a slave-built outbuilding, Simpson
celebrates the heroicdignity orgenerations ofAfrican-
American women who have played an anonymousrole
in the American past and present, both collectively
and symbolically. Glenn l.igon
takes a different approach to
anonymity in his Runaways.
These text-based images simulate
the verbal descriptions of nine-
teenth-century advertisements for
runaway slaves. Ligon asked ten
close friends to provide a verbal
description of "Glenn Ligon." No
two descriptions are the same
each uGlenn Ligon" seems to be a
very different person. In quiet con-
trast, Lesley Dill uses the text of
Lmily Dickinson's poem "A Word
Made flesh..." to create a visual
embodiment of a universal soul
that is neither female or male.
There is one final and
\er> important element to the
—
narration whether set down by a
visual artist, a composer, or an
author, whether conceded in the
fifteenth ( entun or the late twentieth. \ narration is JOAN SNYDER
aluavs a dialogue between at least two individuals. Tilings Hare Tears and lie Know
The ideas presented in the prints in this exhibition Suffering. 1983-84
constitute only halfthe dialogue. It is the viewer, look-
ing at the image, who contributes the other half—who
completes the narrative.
DAVID KIEHL
-
Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art
at Champion
OneChampionPlaza.AtlanticStreetat
TresserBoulevard
Stamford.Connecticut 06921
Tuesday-Saturday, 11 am-5pm
Freeadmission
Tuesday.Thursday,andSaturday
at 12.30pm
Toursbyappointment
BethVenn
Curator. TouringExhibitions,and
Director,BranchMuseums
CynthiaRoznoy
BranchCurator
l.ynneUorfman
Gallery-Coordinator/Education
l.ynneGray
Callen-Coordinator/PublicPrograms
SusanCollier
SaturdayBeceptionist
The Whitney Museum ofAmerican
Krt ai Champion
is funded by Champion International BarbaraGlauber&BeverlyJoel/
HeavyMeta
This brochure accompanies the MeridianPrinting
exhibition "Contemporary Narratives
m American Prints," organized by Champion Pageantry®
David Kiehl, curator, prints,
Whitney Museum of American Art.
JaneHammond.
"TheWonderfulnessofDowntown"
?,1999 Whitney Museum of 1996-97
American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021 GeoffreyClements
www.whitney.org
LKSLKV IIII I
I Word MadeFlesh...(The SoulHas
Bandaged Moments). 1994
4
WORKS IN
THE EXHIBITION
- ROBKRT CIMMING (6 1943) ROBERT GOBER lb 1954) JUAN SANCHEZ (b.1954)
MothersKisses, 1982 The Eye/MindSuite. 1989 Untitled, 1992-96 Para Don Pedro. 1992
Lithographwithhand-coloring:sheet. Fourcolorlithographs:sheet PhotoUthograpb,printedonpre- Colorlithographwithchinecolle
55"..x26'.(91 x67.6): andimage.27'/.x22%(69.2x56.2)each foldedpaper:sheetandimage.22r x collage,andhand-coloring:sheet
image.50*,.x25"/..(77.6x60.2);detail. Purchase,withfundsfrom 15V..(57x54.4) andimage,22V„x29'/.(56.4x 75.9)
eachsheet.6x6(15.2X 15.2); thePrintCommittee 97.109.2a-d Purchase,withfundsfrom Purchase,withfundsfrom
detail,eachimage.5%x 5%(9.8x9.8): thePrintCommittee 97.5 thePrintCommittee 94.47
textpage,eachsheet.6x6(15.2x 15.2) LESLEY DILL (b.1950)
Purchase,withfundsfrom I llordMadeFlesh...(TheSoul FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES LORNA SIMPSON (b.1960)
the PrintCommittee 95.81.1-28 Has BandagedMoments). 1994 (1957-1996) Counting. 1991
Fourphotolithographs.with I ntitled(Sand). 1995-94 Photogravureandscreenprinl:sheet
- etchingandaquatint:sheetandplate. Eight photogravures:sheet. 12%x 15'i andimage,75V.x57%(187.5x57.9)
TheCrossing. 1991 50x22V,(76.2x57.2) (51.8x59.4)each Purchase,withfundsfrom
Colorlithograph:sheetandimage. Purchase,withfundsfrom GiftofJulieSylvester 95.257a-h thePrintCommittee 95.94
Pu2r9c*ha..sex,4w1i%th(7f5u.n1dsxf1r0o5.m4)the thePrintCommittee 94.118.1— JANE HAMMOND (b.1950) KIK1 SMITH (b.1954)
PrintCommittee 94.41 JAMES DRAKE lb 1946) "The llonderfulness ofDowntown". BansheePearls. 1991
Ialleyofthe florid, 1994 1996-97 Twelvelithographs:sheetandimage.
Sevenphotolithographsandpython Colorscreenprinlandoffset lithograph, 22%xSOU(57.2x76.5)each
Dobles. 1994 skin,mountedasadiptych:sheet, 18".x withcollage:sheetand Purchase,withfundsfrom
Colorlithographmountedonchinecolle: 55V.(46x90.8);image,8x12% image,59x62%(150.5x 158.8) thePrintCommittee 91.47.1-12
sheetandimage.22x 50%(55.9x76.8) (20.5x51.8);skin,8x 12'/i(20.5x 51.8) Purchase,withfundsfrom
Purchase,withfundsfrom GirtofMr.andMrs.WilliamA.Wise thePrintCommittee 97.109.5 JOAN SNYDER (b 1940)
thePrintCommittee 96.69 98.96.1-7 Things Have Tearsand HeKnou
GLENN LIGON (b.1960) Suffering. 1985-84
WALTON FORD (b 19601 Runaways. 1995 Colorwoodcut,withhand-coloring:
Thesis/Antithesis. 1997 Sharp Teeth. 1989 Tenphotolithographs:sheet, block, 17'V..x 17"/..(45.6x45.6);sheet
Colormonotype:sheetand image. Linoleumcutandletterpress:sheetand 16x 12(40.6x50.5)each 26x25%(66x64.8)
22%x50V.(57.2x 76.5) image.26' x 19(66.2x48.5) GiftofthePeterNorton Family Purchase,withfundsfrom
Purchase,withfundsfrom Purchase,withfundsfromTheHorace Foundation 94.29.1-10 thePrintCommittee 95.95
the PrintCommittee 98.41.1 \\ Goldsmith Foundation 99.67.1
FRANK MOORE (b 1953) MAY STEVENS (b.1924)
Sixfingers, 1989 /italSigns. 1997 RiverBun. 1994
UDS Suite. 1994 Linoleumcutandletterpress:sheetand Fouretchingswithdrypointandfoul- Colorlithograph:sheetandimage.
Portfolioofeightetchingsand image.26V.x 18"/..(66.7x48.1) biting:sheet, 18x 14'/..(45.7x57);plate, 22' \ ->!>%(56\ 75.6)
twophnliirtchingswith hand-coloring: Purchase,withfundsfromTheHorace 10"/..x8V.(27.5x21.5) Purchase,withfundsfrom
portfolio. 15"/..X 10V.XV. W.Goldsmith Foundation 99.67.2 Purchase,with fundsfrom thePrintCommittee 96.58
sheets,(5d5i.m1enXs2i7onxs2)v;ariable SANDY GELLIS lb 1940) the PrintCommittee 98.41.5a-f Rl'TH ELLEN WE1SIIEHG lb 19
Purchase,withfundsIrom Springin the\orthern Hemisphere: ALISON SAAR lb.1956) Passage, 1985
the PrintCommittee 94.74.1-10 1987, 1987-88 SweepingBeauty. 1997 Colorlithographwithgraphite
F.levencoloretchings,with map: Colorwoodcut:sheet andlinage. 7(i\ 55 additions:sheetandimage. 56'i.\29"i*
sheetandimage, IP.X IP.(29.5x29.5) (195x85.8) (91.9x 75.4)
Stowage. 1996 each;map, 11%x IP/.(29.5x29.5) Purchase,with fundsfrom GiflofOar] M.and llrenda II.
Woodcut with metal reliefprinting: Purchase,with fundsfrom the PrintCommittee 98.41.6 Iliitlcnherg 94.200
image.P4u596n'.Xhax1s0e94.5(w(1i14t22h5..2f7uIn»d22s6441f..2r5)o);msheet. SthTeEPVrEinNtCGoImmAiNtAtKeeOS96(.b.341a93-6l) RIQLuLaWnHtuEmKLCOrCayK.i1b0916969)
the Print Committee 98.8.2 Missing Children, 1986 Etching: sheet, 15"ia \ 15'ii
Fightcolorlithographs: sheet andimage. (59.8x 55.2);plate.9%x7"..(24.4X 19.5,
16 » 15%(40.6x 55.7)each Punbase,withftindsfrom
Purchase,withhindsfrom TheHorace the PrintCommittee 116.196
W Goldsmith Foundation 1)9.(18.1 H