Face-off: The Portrait in Recent Art PDF
Preview Face-off: The Portrait in Recent Art
Janine Antoni Christian Boltansld Chuck Close John Coplan• Patrick Faigenbaum Nan Goldin David Hammons Dya ltabakov Alex Katz Kann Kilimnik Jell Koons Robert Mapplethorpe A!lee Neel Dant~• Oates Lorraine O'Grady Charles Ray Gerhard Richter Tboma•Rull An4re• Serrano ClndySber1•1an Andy Warhol Hannah WIike THE PORTRAIT IN RECENT ART F A C E - O F F by Melissa E. Feldman with an essay by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh Institute of Contemporary Art University of Pennsylvania This publication was prepared on the occasion of the exhibition "Face OIi: The Portrait in Recent Art" organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. EXHIBITION ITINERARY Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia September 9 - October 30, I 994 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska January 28 - March I 9. I 995 Weatherspoon Art Gallery University of North Carolina, Greensboro April 9 - Ma~· 28. 1995 The eichibition and its accompanying catalogue have been made possible. in part, by the generous support of Karen Spiro/Primarily Portraits; the lnmtute of Museum Services. a federal agency; the ~nsytvania Council on the Arts; the City of Philadelphia; and the friends and members of the Institute of Contemporary Art. (I; 1994 Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsytvania. 118 South 36th Street Philadelphia. ~nsytvania 19104-3289. AH rights reseNed. ISBN 0-88454-078-2 Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 94 · 78207 Design: Lomiine Wild/ReVelt>, with Chris Haaga Editing: Gerald Zeigeonan Printing: Becotte & Gershwin. Inc. Cover: Gerhard Richter, Betty, 1988, oil on canvas, 401/s x 231/s inches Collection The Saint Louis Art Museum PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Courtesy Annie Plumb and Mary Ann Monforton: 12; courtesy Jeff Dee: 44; courtesy Sylvlane de Decker Heftier, Paris: 46; Dawoud Bey, Koons: 16, 17; courtesy 303 Gallery: 18; Robert E. Mates, courtesy courtesy jack Tilton Gallery, New Yorlc: 48, 51; courtesy Metro Pictures, Marlborough Galery, New Yof1c: 19; jack Ramsdale: 20; Gary McKinnis: New York: 8, 9, 49; o Robert Rauschenberg: 60; o Douglas Huebler: 21; Scott Bowron: 26; Al Mozell: 27; john Bessler, courtesy Sandra 61 ; courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York: 63, 67; c Roy Gering Gallery, New York: 30, 31; Dennis Cowley, 36; courtesy the Lichtenstein: 64. estate of Alice Neel and Robert Miller Gallery: 37; courtesy Andrea Photographs reproduced in this catalogue have been otherwise pro Rosen Gallery: 39; courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery: 42; 0. James vided by the owners or custodians of the works indicated in the captions. 4 Lenders Lynette and Robert Antoni Lorie and Marvin Balistocky The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection, Santa Monica, California Paula Cooper Gallery, New York Eileen and Michael Cohen, New York Thomas Erben Gallery, New York John Coplans, New York Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York James Dorment, Rumson, New Jersey Matthew Marks Gallery, New York Gil Friesen, Los Angeles Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York Arne and Milly Glimcher, New York Robert Miller Gallery, New York LINC Group, Chicago Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London Lewis Manilow, Chicago PaceWildenstein, New York Estate of Robert Mapplethorpe Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York Rowland and Eleanor Miller, 303 Gallery, New York Louisville, Kentucky Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York Estate of Alice Neel Donald Young Gallery, Seattle The Neuberger and Berman Collection, New York The Art Institute of Chicago Mr. and Mrs. S. I. Newhouse, Jr., New York National Portrait Gallery, Batshera and Ronald Ostrow, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Old Westbury, New York Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Gerry and David Pincus, Inc., New York Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Refco Group, Ltd., Chicago Rubell Family Collections, Miami Schorr Family Collection William Schunk, New York Janet and Joseph Shein, Merion, Pennsylvania Stephen and Marsha Silberstein, Philadelphia Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Carl Spielvogel, New York Private collection Foreotord T o look upon the face of another is a primary human act. The face is the scat of the se:-nscs. Through its organs we learn of the world and, through the examination of other faces, we form our all important first impressions. But to pursue the study of physiognomy via portraiture is far more complex than this already overdetermined transaction. We add to our psychological and emotional reading of a portrait the sociopolitical context of the subject, and the role of the portrait as an art object. Portraiture has taken many forms-from an Egyptian sarcofagus or a Coptic coffin painting, to a Hilliard miniature or an elegant portrait by Sargent.~ver the past one-hundred-and-fifty }'Cars, new determinants have complicated what had been a much simpler matrix of social and ceremonial functions. The invention of photography, the formal experimentation of modernism, the genocide and slaughter of the two World Wars, the struggles for equality among national, ethnic, and gender groups have all contributed to a revolution within the genre of portraitur~ First, I wish to thank ICA's associate curator, Melissa Feldman, who conceived of the exhibi tion, for bringing to order the vicissitudes of the complex subject at hand. Her essay crystalizes the themes set forth in the exhibition. Benjamin Buchloh's theoretical analysis, presented as three historical episodes, elegantly brings contemporary works into line with developments of the first half of thr crn tury. We thank him for this radically innovative approach. The Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, and the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, join us in presenting this exhibition. I wish to thank Marsha Gallagher in Omaha and Ruth Beesch in Greensboro for their enthusiastic participation. We are grateful to all of the individuals and organizations who have generously agreed to lend their works to the exhibition. Special thanks are extended to the Philadelphia lenders among them, many of whom are longstanding supporters of ICA. The entire staff of ICA is to be commended for its efforts, with particular acknowledgment of Jane Carroll, registrar, for her unfailing precision and diligence in handling the transportation arrangements. I wish to acknowledge the continued support of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. the Institute of Museum Services, a federal agency, and the City of Philadelphia for their contributions toward making this exhibition possible. We are also indebted to the advisory board, friends, and mem bers of ICA whose interest and particiption keep this institution vital. Patrick T. Murphy DIRECTOR • Acknowledg,e enta U ndertaking group exhibitions such as this one necessarily involves the cooperation of many individuals. I wish to amplify Patrick Murphy's thanks co the nearly forty institutions, founda tions, and individuals who so graciously lent their exemplary works. "Face-Off" demanded particular selections that might nor have been located without the guidance of certain individuals, or obtained without their diplomacy. They are too numerous to name, but the following must be mentioned: Liz Boyle and Natasha Sigmund, Paula Cooper Gallery; John Cheim and Mary Doerhoefer, Robert Miller Gallery; Janine Cirincione, Jack Tilton Gallery; Sadie Coles, Anthony d'Offay Gallery; Thomas Erben; Sandra Gering; Judy Harney, PaceWildenstein; Hudson, Feature; Peggy Kaplan, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts; Ben Mangel; Andrea Rosen; Jason Rubell, Jane Rubin, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Lisa Spellman, 303 Gallery; Judy Williams, Rhona Hoffman Gallery; and Donald Young. For the catalogue, I am indebted to Lorraine Wild for her dream design and editor Gerald Zeigerman for his expertise and patience. I also wish to thank Benjamin Buchloh for his erudite con tribution. At ICA, this project has been ably assisted by Beth Ready, curatorial intern, who devoted a year to compiling the artists' bibliographies and performing countless other essential tasks. Warmest appreciation is extended to my colleague Jane Carroll for her care and thoroughness in organizing the transport of these widespread works. I am also grateful to ICA's director Patrick Murhpy for his com mitment to the show from its inception. Last, my thanks go to the artists, whose provocative works sparked the idea for the exhibition, and to Ingrid Schaffner and Daniel Greenstein for their advice and support. Melissa E. Feldman ASSOCIATE CURATOR 7 QndySbaa ea Untitled #197, 1989 Color pholograph, 31 ½ x 21 Courtesy Barbara Toll Fine Arts. New Yoric Untitled #195, 1989 ½ ½ Color photograph, 30 x 13 Collection Rowland and Eleanor Miller, Louisville. Kentucky - . .. -·-·- -· ' T h e P o r t r a i t : FROM SOMEBODY TO NO BODY Melissa E. Feldman &,. BULBOUS PUTTY NOSE and off-the-shoulder chemise revealing tan lines are among the incon ~ gruous details that give away Cindy Sherman's old-master-style portrait of a woman. In this flagrant anachronism, Sherman unmasks every convention of the genre by staging herself as its anony mous, mock-eighteenth-century subject. As deftly, in Untitled#] 15, she portrays a wigged dandy in a checkered frock coat. Exposing the construction of appearances is just one aspect of this review of the portrait in recent art. Today's highly varied practice responds to issues that range from the condition of represen tation to social change. In an attempt to bring structure to the vast topic, this exhibition focuses on four predominant areas of activity. These groupings, which are permeable and often overlap, by no 9 e et · .,;.. .. ·- ·~•r riot 7 . · .,... .. .,..,,.,. >"" ·: 0 ,4 means account for all contemporary approaches to portraiture. But at a cultural moment preoccupied with identity and an aesthetic era that privileges ideology over content, the portrait bears the marks of this revisionist thinking. Acknowledging the abduction of portraiture from the seclusion of fine art and into the public domain of advertising, the first section of the exhibition examines the new, media-derived subject. Reborn as a commercial prop, the vamped portrait may lose its staid demeanor but not its pretensions. It is from the standpoint of this stereotyped, idealized condition that some artists reengage the prac tice. This serves as a means of commenting on the mass media's role in manipulating appearances and popular values. The second section deals with conceptual approaches ro the portrait. Suspicious of the collu sion between commercial and artistic aims most apparent in pop arr, conceptual artists avoid conven tions of representation by minimalizing artistic intervention. The human image becomes a pawn for their formal and epistemological investigations. Denying the expected expression of character, interior ity, and social position through mechanical processes, the portrait is rendered anonymous or impene trable. Another angle of attack issues from artists who explode portraiture's traditional aim to con form and to Ratter. These works disrupt its hierarchical pretext by representing a range of more demo cratic types-the aging, the dying, people on the fringe. The dignity of individuality is bestowed upon these ignored members of society whose appearances historically have been relegated to journalism and other science-minded forms. At the same time, these novel subjects reinvigorate rhe genre with a gust of realism. The works in the final section approach the portrait subject not as a somebody or a nobody but as an accumulation of its enthnocultural and sociopolitical circumstances. Such works employ fiction al or allegorical modes of representation that open themselves to multiple meanings and new art forms. In some cases the figure is absent, replaced by object-based, sculptural or environmental assem blage. By posing as a symbol of a larger community, the portrait is forced out of its figural domicile and into a body of evidence. •
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