For Immediate Release
August 11, 2008
Contact: Corey Cronin 781/259-3628
Nina Gara Bozicnik 781/259-3627
FACE TO FACE: challenging traditional portraiture
Dewey Family Gallery
October 4, 2008 – May 17, 2009
LINCOLN , MA —Since its establishment in 1998, the Dewey Family Gallery has featured annual thematic exhibitions of modern and contemporary American art drawn from DeCordova’s Permanent Collection. This year’s exhibition, FACE TO FACE: challenging traditional portraiture , challenges the conventional understanding of the portrait genre. Historically, portraiture has been considered a mimetic representation of the sitter, a “likeness,” either emotional or physical, that captures the essence of the subject. In Face to Face, many of the photographs, prints, and paintings intentionally expose the presence of their makers and their processes. By explicitly making themselves present in their work, these artists suggest that portraits are constructed representations.
For these artists, a portrait is a much about the artist as it is about the sitter. Some artists actively interrogate the very notion of identity as an essence, the sitter as a whole subject capable of a faithful, finite representation. Some even go as far as to violate the “I” and fragment the sitter’s body and the picture plane, suggesting that the human subject is inherently fractured. Additional works disrupt the concept of a concrete essence by highlighting the performative nature of identity.
The work in Face to Face overtly declares that portraits are mediated representations and emphasizes that the sitter is a fragmented and continuously shifting subject. By challenging the conventional understanding of portraiture, this exhibition invites the viewer to question: can a portrait ever truly capture all the complexities of the sitter?
This exhibition was organized by Koch Curatorial Fellow Nina Gara Bozicnik.
Click here for more information on the Face to Face exhibition and related programs.
Bank of America’s Museums on Us™
DeCordova is proud to be a participant in Bank of America’s Museums on Us™ program. Beginning in May, all visitors who present a valid Bank of America ATM, debit or credit card, along with photo identification will receive free general admission to DeCordova’s campus on the first weekend of each month until April 2009. This program excludes special events.
General Information: DeCordova is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. General admission during Museum hours is $12 for adults, $8 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6–12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free. The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm , and Sunday 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Tuesday from noon to 3 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Guided public tours of the Museum’s main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm. Tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to Oct. All guided public tours are free with Campus admission. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information.
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