Person of Interest February 2020–July 2021 Learning Guide
Person of Interest August–December 2020 The genre of portraiture has a substantial history in art making. Artists and viewers have found portrayals of the human form to be especially evocative because the body, even when abstracted, can convey a wide range of meanings. How one chooses to present oneself—in dress, adornment, gestures, or movement— communicates powerful messages about one’s identity. Person of Interest, which spans all nine of the museum’s second-floor galleries, showcases the different ways in which identity, whether artistic, gender, racial, class, or religious, can be performed in a portrait. This exhibition draws inspiration from the many connotations of the phrase “person of interest,” which range from a person identifying a potential love interest to criminal investigators determining a suspect or conspirator who may be able to provide answers. In doing so, the installation explores multivalent expressions of identity, addressing how they are shaped by the traumas of history, lived experiences, and the gazes of others. Furthermore, the exhibition emphasizes the significance of intersectionality in considering the question of identity. Intersectionality refers to the idea that parts of a person’s identity, such as race, class, and gender, must be viewed through how they overlap, or intersect, rather than considering each part in isolation. Person of Interest thus sheds lights on the complexities involved in the simultaneous construction and performance of one’s identity and provides avenues for viewers to forge new connections with each other in today’s society.
Exhibition support is provided by Assurity, Duncan Family Trust, Melanie and Jon Gross, Kathryn and Marc LeBaron, Merrill Lynch – The Roper Bennett Team, Roseann and Phil Perry, and Annette and Paul Smith.
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Jean Clouet
Gilbert Stuart
Portrait of the Dauphin Henry
Alexander Walker
Helen Torr Robert Henri
Self-Portrait
William J. Glackens Edith Dimock Glackens
Alfred Henry Maurer Study for Jeanne
Grant Wood Arnold Comes of Age (Portrait of Arnold Pyle)
Alfred Henry Maurer Portrait
Philip Guston Pit II
Charles Whedon Rain
Yasumasa Morimura
Self-Portrait
Self Portrait—After Greta Garbo 1, Brigitte Bardot 1, Sylvia Kristel, Liza Minelli 1, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo 2, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn 1
John Singer Sargent Jean-Joseph-Marie Carriès
Cindy Sherman Untitled (#138)
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Kiki Smith
Zanele Muholi
Banshee Pearls
Thembeka I, New York Upstate (from Somnyama Ngonyama series)
George Dureau La Lube Ali
Alice Neel John and Joey Priestly
Lalla Essaydi Untitled (from The Silence of Her Desire series) John Sonsini Christian & Alejandro
Wanda Ewing Girl #8 (from Black as Pitch, Hot as Hell series) Hank Willis Thomas Priceless #1 Fritz Henle Portrait of Nieves Ivan Albright Self-Portrait at 55 East Division Street Deborah Luster Sunday Morning
Milton Avery Self-Portrait
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Max Beckmann
Käthe Kollwitz
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait in Profile to the Right (Selbstbildnis im Profil nach rechts)
Constantin Brancusi
Vivian Maier
Self-Portrait of the Artist in his Studio
Los Angeles (Self-Portrait, Tiled Mirror Reflection)
Max Pechstein Marc Chagall Self-Portrait with Easel
Francesco Clemente I
Robert Henri Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait with Pipe (Smoker) (Selbstbildnis mit Pfeife (Raucher))
Henry Varnum Poor Self-Portrait Plate
Diego Rivera Self-Portrait
Zhang Huan 1/2 (Meat + Text) Betye Saar A Handful of Stars
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Jenny Saville Glen Luchford Closed Contact
Diane Arbus Circus Fat Lady with her Dog, Troubles (from People and their Pets series)
Gauri Gill David Alfaro Siqueiros Self-Portrait
Untitled (17) (from Acts of Appearance series)
Edward Hopper Renée Stout
Night Shadows
Self-Portrait
Alex Katz Double Portrait Beth Van Hoesen Self I David Park City Street
Francesca Woodman Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island Self-portrait with teacher, early 1970s Untitled (from Eel Series, Rome)
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith Wisdom/Knowledge; Humor; Tribe/Community; Nature/Medicine (from Survival Suite)
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Do-Ho Suh
Dawoud Bey
Karma
A Girl with a Knife Nosepin, Brooklyn, NY
Renee Cox Yo Mama Ambreen Butt Zia-ud-din (16) (from Say My Name series)
Eric Fischl Untitled (Handstand) Renee Cox Yo Mama’s Last Supper Judith Shea Nancy Reddin Kienholz Edward Kienholz J.C. #36
Mark Rothko Yellow Band
Renée Stout Legba and the Pearl Gourd
Louise Monument: Portrait of Louise Bourgeois
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Roger Shimomura
Shirin Neshat
Block Dance Break #2
Tooba Series
Catherine Opie Divinity Fudge Kehinde Wiley Passing/Posing (The Revenge of Consumption)
Radcliffe Bailey Distant Stars II
Nathaniel Mary Quinn Ms. Barrett Lil’ Barbara
Yinka Shonibare CBE Willie Birch
Dad, Dad, and the Kids
African American Survival Ensemble Diane Arbus Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NYC
Barkley L. Hendricks Bid ‘Em In/Slave (Angie)
Person of Interest August–December 2020
Stephan Balkenhol
Michael Eastman
Lady with Red Dress
Fidel’s Stairway #2
Alfred Leslie Hugh Malena
Marisol Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled, From Leonardo
Enrique Chagoya Le Cannibale Moderniste
Rineke Dijkstra Accra, Ghana, Africa
Lesley Dill Queen of Copper Letters
Magritte V
Jean Clouet Flanders, Belgium 1480–Paris, France 1541 Portrait of the Dauphin Henry Gouache on vellum, 1539 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of the Kress Foundation U-357-K.1962
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Jean Clouet, the French miniaturist who was active in Francis I’s court, did not seek to paint a naturalistic portrait of Henry, the dauphin or heir apparent to the French throne. Instead, Clouet emphasized Henry’s readiness as a future leader by highlighting his physical strength with his great barrel chest and his military prowess with the sword that the dauphin keeps at the ready.
Jean Clouet Portrait of the Dauphin Henry
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Robert Henri Cincinnati, OH 1865–New York, NY 1929 left to right: William J. Glackens Oil on canvas, 1904 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Thomas C. Woods Memorial N-247.1970 Edith Dimock Glackens Oil on canvas, 1902–1904 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Gift of Miss Alice Abel, Mr. and Mrs. Gene H. Tallman, The Abel Foundation, and Mrs. Olga N. Sheldon N-245.19
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Robert Henri painted William Glackens and Edith Dimock Glackens, his friends and fellow artists, in two full-length portraits that show off their sumptuous dress. They were all active as painters in New York at a moment when artists, influenced by William Merritt Chase, sought to style themselves as members of the aristocracy, and not as mere craftsmen. In these paintings, Henri highlighted this fact, which is best seen in William Glackens’s white silk vest and regal pose, derived from paintings of Spanish royalty. Robert Henri William J. Glackens Edith Dimock Glackens
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Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Study for Jeanne Oil on panel, circa 1904 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Thomas C. Woods Memorial N-256.1972
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In this informal study of the French model Jeanne Blazy, Alfred Henry Maurer paints the sitter with a directness in her stance and in her gaze that challenged the social conventions of the period. A comparison of this painting with Robert Henri’s almost contemporaneous Portrait of Edith Dimock Glackens, which is also on view in this gallery, reveals that subtle shifts in one’s pose, namely whether the sitter is turning towards or away from the viewer and the placement of the sitter’s hands, can dramatically shape how one is perceived.
Alfred Henry Maurer Study for Jeanne
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Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Portrait Gouache on gesso panel, circa 1924 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Bequest of Bertha Schaefer U-804.1971
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Painted by Alfred Henry Maurer, the same artist who completed Study of Jeanne on view nearby, Portrait is a work that demonstrates his stylistic versatility. Maurer was so influenced by Parisian avant-garde artists and collectors, such as Henri Matisse and Gertrude Stein respectively, that he radically changed his approach to the human figure. In doing so, Maurer, through paintings like this panel, made a bold statement about his own modern artistic identity.
Alfred Henry Maurer Portrait
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Charles Whedon Rain Knoxville, TN 1911–New York, NY 1985 Self-Portrait Oil on board, 1962 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of the Henry W. Grady Estate U-6300.2013
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John Singer Sargent Florence, Italy 1856–London, England 1925 Jean-Joseph-Marie Carriès Oil on canvas, circa 1880 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Nelle Cochrane Woods Memorial N-304.1972
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Dating to John Singer Sargent’s early career, this portrait of the ceramicist JeanJoseph-Marie Carriès is a remarkably direct painting that captures the Frenchman’s spirit. However, Sargent went beyond simply painting his friend’s likeness—he also took this opportunity to experiment with his painting style and hone his artistic identity. He used a loose handling of paint, which resulted in a brushy and almost impressionistic portrait that hinted at his future experiments in this genre.
John Singer Sargent Jean-Joseph-Marie Carriès
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Gilbert Stuart North Kingstown, RI 1755–Boston, MA 1828 Portrait of Alexander Walker Oil on board, 1805/10 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Carl and Jane Rohman through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-5580.2009
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While Gilbert Stuart’s Portrait of Alexander Walker may appear to be a conventional portrait of the sitter, the painting is an instance where ideas of self-fashioning, or the deliberate construction or performance of one’s identity according to a set of socially acceptable standards, are at play. Walker’s erect posture, direct gaze, and mild demeanor are all attributes of a gentleman, while his ruddy cheeks are not only an indication of good health, but also of personal virtue. By deliberately styling himself in this way, and having Stuart include these elements in his portrait, Walker is signaling to those who Gilbert Stuart
would have seen this painting that he is a fine
Alexander Walker
gentleman with a good character.
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Helen Torr Roxbury, PA 1886–Bay Shore, NY 1967 Self-Portrait Oil on canvas, 1934–1935 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-2331.1976
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Grant Wood Anamosa, IA 1892–Iowa City, IA 1942 Arnold Comes of Age (Portrait of Arnold Pyle) Oil on pressed board, 1930 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association Collection N-38.1931
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Even though Grant Wood made this portrait of his studio assistant, Arnold Pyle, to mark the young man’s twenty-first birthday, this painting also reveals much about the painter’s own inner life. The attention Wood lavished on the painting, most notably in the subtle articulation of the sitter’s face, the detail in his belt buckle, and the butterfly at left, imbues the painting with a sense of homoeroticism and suggests the great tenderness Wood had for his young assistant.
Grant Wood Arnold Comes of Age (Portrait of Arnold Pyle)
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Philip Guston Montreal, Canada 1913–Woodstock, NY 1980 Pit II Oil on canvas, 1976 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of the estate of Musa Guston U-4429.1992
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During the last decades of his life, Philip Guston worked through his complicated feelings about his Jewish identity, which had been profoundly shaped by his choice to change his inherited surname of Goldstein to Guston. In Pit II, Guston grappled with his guilt from this denial of his religious heritage and the traumas Jews suffered in the Holocaust by painting the open door of a crematorium oven, or the fiery red pit at left, with a ladder and a tangle of limbs and shoes extending from it.
Philip Guston Pit II
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Yasumasa Morimura born Osaka, Japan 1951 top row, left to right: Self Portrait—After Greta Garbo 1, Brigitte Bardot 1, Sylvia Kristel, Liza Minelli 1 bottom row, left to right: Self Portrait—After Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo 2, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn 1 Gelatin silver print, 1996 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In this series of self-portraits, Yasumasa Morimura photographs himself in the guise of a number of film stars. By transforming himself into these iconic Hollywood actresses, Morimura subverts the male gaze by placing himself as the subject of these glamorous photographs and comments on the blurred Yasumasa Morimura Self Portrait—After Greta Garbo 1, Brigitte Bardot 1, Sylvia Kristel, Liza Minelli 1, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo 2, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn 1
lines between East and West through the lens of Japan’s complicated relationship with western culture in the wake of World War II.
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Cindy Sherman born Glen Ridge, NJ 1954 Untitled (#138) Chromogenic color print, 1984 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Wil J. and Sally Hergenrader through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-4663.1996
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Cindy Sherman questions stereotypical notions of femininity through her carefully staged self-portraits. In this photograph, which she originally shot for French Vogue, Sherman smiles maniacally while sitting awkwardly in designer clothes. Her redtinged fingertips allude to the great lengths that some people take to present idealized notions of beauty, yet her almost caricaturelike presentation and her disheveled hair underscore the contrived nature of such imagery.
Cindy Sherman Untitled (#138)
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Kiki Smith born Nuremberg, Germany 1954 Banshee Pearls Lithograph, 1991 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-6553.A–L.2016
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Kiki Smith incorporates photographs and photocopies of her face, hair, and teeth in this suite of twelve lithographs to explore the boundary between beauty and the grotesque. She also mixes images of skulls and masks with reproductions of her face that have been distorted in a way that seems to evoke visceral screams. In doing so, she looks to her past, where her father, the sculptor Tony Smith, used to call her a banshee, a mythical figure from Gaelic folklore whose high-pitched wails would foretell a death in the family.
Kiki Smith Banshee Pearls
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George Dureau New Orleans, LA 1930–Kenner, LA 2014 La Lube Ali Vintage silver gelatin print, 1979 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the New Orleans-based painter George Dureau made a series of photographs, including the one on view here, partly as preparatory studies for his paintings. By placing the black athlete at the center of the photograph and framing him in a direct manner, Dureau thus humanized his subject and elevated the sitter, previously marginalized, into the spotlight.
George Dureau La Lube Ali
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Lalla Essaydi born Marrakesh, Morocco 1956 Untitled (from The Silence of Her Desire series) C-print mounted on acrylic, 2002 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Lalla Essaydi’s photograph confronts how western artists have fetishized Middle Eastern women by fixating on their supposed languid sexuality. Even though Essaydi’s sitters are nude, they turn away from the viewer, absorbed in the traditionally male act of writing calligraphy, but they write using henna, a predominately feminine material by virtue of its use by women in Arabic weddings. In doing so, Essaydi actively resists stereotypes by considering the fullness and complexity of her subjects’ lives as Middle Eastern women. Lalla Essaydi Untitled (from The Silence of Her Desire series)
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Wanda Ewing Omaha, NE 1970–Omaha, NE 2013 Girl #8 (from Black as Pitch, Hot as Hell series) Acrylic and latex paint on carved plywood, 2006 Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association, Gift of Kop Ramsey in memory of her sister Della Kopperud Stover S-900.2013
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In her Black as Pitch, Hot as Hell series, Wanda Ewing highlighted the often-neglected history of women of color posing as pinup models. From Josephine Baker during the 1920s to the languidly reclining figure in Girl #8, these women celebrated their black feminine beauty in a way that still has resonance today, which is seen best in the singer Lizzo’s dynamic performances.
Wanda Ewing Girl #8 (from Black as Pitch, Hot as Hell series)
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Fritz Henle Dortmund, Germany 1909–St. Croix, Virgin Islands 1993 Portrait of Nieves Vintage gelatin silver print, 1943 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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In 1943, the German-born photographer Fritz Henle traveled to Mexico and made a series of photographs, including this one of Nieves Orozco, a model who sat for a number of Diego Rivera’s works. These photographs were then published in his book Mexico, which circulated widely as a volume of enlarged postcards. By framing his subject in a way that heightened her coy sensuality and by distributing her image widely, Henle shaped his sitter’s identity, thus underscoring the power of photography in helping craft one’s Fritz Henle Portrait of Nieves
identity.
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Deborah Luster born Bend, OR 1951 Sunday Morning Gelatin silver print, 1993 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Deborah Luster photographs a young AfricanAmerican girl wearing a ruffled dress that visually echoes the fluffy tufts of cotton that grow on the plants behind her. The young girl’s innocent gaze, which is deliberately juxtaposed against the plant her ancestors were forced to cultivate, serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring traumas of enslavement.
Deborah Luster Sunday Morning
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Zanele Muholi born Umlazi, South Africa 1972 Thembeka I, New York Upstate (from Somnyama Ngonyama series) Gelatin silver print, 2015 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Zanele Muholi fashions themself in the guise of the Virgin Mary by placing on their head a piece of white lace that stands in stark contrast with their face and unflinching gaze. In doing so, they call attention to blackness— Somnyama Ngonyama means “Hail, the Dark Lioness” in Zulu—and use their black body to confront the politics of race, religion, and the self-portrait in the age of the “selfie.”
Zanele Muholi Thembeka I, New York Upstate (from Somnyama Ngonyama series)
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Alice Neel Merion Square, PA 1900–New York, NY 1984 John and Joey Priestly Oil on canvas, 1968 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Nelle Cochrane Woods Memorial N-339.1975
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Eschewing the use of photographs in her studio practice, Alice Neel preferred to talk to her sitters in order to render their personality in paint. For John and Joey Priestly, who were kids from her neighborhood in the late 1960s, Neel captured the essence of these two boys. Their impatience at having to sit still radiates from them in streaks of green and blue, and their direct gazes implore Neel (and the viewer) to let them return to playing outside on a hot summer day.
Alice Neel John and Joey Priestly
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John Sonsini born Rome, NY 1950 Christian & Alejandro Oil on canvas, 2007 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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John Sonsini selects for his sitters the Latino day labor population in Los Angeles and pays them their usual wage to pose for him. In this portrait of Christian and Alejandro, Sonsini places great emphasis on their hands and feet by enlarging them, highlighting the physical labor that these men perform daily.
John Sonsini Christian & Alejandro
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Hank Willis Thomas born Plainfield, NJ 1976 Priceless #1 Lambda photograph, 2004 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-3120.2015
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Hank Willis Thomas’s cousin, Songha Willis Thomas, was murdered in 2000 outside a Philadelphia nightclub for a gold chain worn by a friend. In this work, Thomas photographs his devastated family at his cousin’s funeral, and he overlays the MasterCard logo and text outlining the costs associated with this death. By emphasizing this intersection between race, consumerism, and advertising, Thomas Hank Willis Thomas Priceless #1
highlights how black bodies have been treated as commodities throughout history, especially when they were freely bought and sold during the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
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Ivan Albright Chicago, IL 1987–Woodstock, VT 1983 Self-Portrait at 55 East Division Street Lithograph, 1945 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University Collection U-3422.1983
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Milton Avery Altmar, NY 1885–New York, NY 1965 Self-Portrait Etching, 1937 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Gift of C. K. Hillegass N-184.1966
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Max Beckmann Leipzig, Germany 1884–New York, NY 1950 Self-Portrait Etching, 1917 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-410.1956
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Constantin Brancusi Hobitza, Romania 1876–Paris, France 1957 Self-Portrait of the Artist in his Studio Gelatin silver print, 1922 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Olga N. Sheldon U-1950.1973
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Marc Chagall Vitebsk, Belorussia 1887–Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 1985 Self-Portrait with Easel Etching and aquatint, 1930–1931 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-468.1967
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Francesco Clemente born Naples, Italy 1952 I Color woodcut, 1982 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Erwin A. Kelen U-5620.2011
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Robert Henri Cincinnati, OH 1865–New York, NY 1929 Self-Portrait Oil on canvas, 1903 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Mrs. Olga N. Sheldon U-3365.1982
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Zhang Huan born Anyang, China 1965 1/2 (Meat + Text) C-print, 1998 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Depicting the artist with Chinese calligraphy inscribed on his body and an animal carcass draped over his torso, 1/2 (Meat + Text) is a still photograph from Zhang Huan’s last performance in Beijing before he temporarily left for the United States. By literally marking his body with signs of his Chinese identity and wearing the carcass as if it were armor, Zhang acknowledges his multiple differences—in ethnicity and language—from mainstream American culture and the difficulties he foresees in adapting to his new life.
Zhang Huan 1/2 (Meat + Text)
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Käthe Kollwitz Konigsberg, Germany 1867–Moritzburg, Germany 1945 Self-Portrait in Profile to the Right (Selbstbildnis im Profil nach rechts) Lithograph, 1938 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-350.1954
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Vivian Maier New York, NY 1926–Chicago, IL 2009 Los Angeles (Self-Portrait, Tiled Mirror Reflection) Gelatin silver print, 1955; printed 2013 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Purchased with funds from the Dr. Richard S. Hay Memorial U-6315.2013
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Max Pechstein Zwickau, Germany 1881–Berlin, Germany 1955 Self-Portrait with Pipe (Smoker) (Selbstbildnis mit Pfeife (Raucher)) Woodcut, 1921 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-353.1954
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Henry Varnum Poor Chapman, KS 1888–New York, NY 1970 Self-Portrait Plate Ceramic, 1940 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-228.1942
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Diego Rivera Guanajuato, Mexico 1886–Mexico City, Mexico 1957 Self-Portrait Lithograph, 1930 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-540.1930
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Betye Saar born Los Angeles, CA 1926 A Handful of Stars Bronze with patina and walnut base, 2016 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-6870.2019
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A Handful of Stars, a cast of Betye Saar’s left hand, is a highly personal portrait of the artist. She represents the tools—her hands—that she uses to make her art and adds found objects, including the nine stars in her palm and the sun on the back, to reference her frequent studio practice of incorporating found objects in her sculptures.
Betye Saar A Handful of Stars
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Jenny Saville born Cambridge, United Kingdom 1970 Glen Luchford born Susse, United Kingdom 1968 Closed Contact Cibachrome print, 2002 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In this collaboration with the fashion photographer Glen Luchford, Jenny Saville deliberately distorts her body to explore the pain and violence of reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. These contortions, which recall what Kiki Smith does in her work that is on view nearby, again point to the boundary between beauty and the grotesque, but in a way that confronts the harsh methods through which conventional femininity may be pursued.
Jenny Saville Glen Luchford Closed Contact
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David Alfaro Siqueiros Chihuahua, Mexico 1896–Cuernavaca, Mexico 1974 Self-Portrait Lithograph, 1936 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Robert Gwathmey U-132.1953
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Renée Stout born Junction City, KS 1958 Self-Portrait Archival pigment print, 2011/2012 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Brink U-6736.2017
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Beth Van Hoesen Boise, ID 1926–San Francisco, CA 2010 Self I Watercolor, 1954 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of the E. Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen Adams Trust U-5731.2012
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Francesca Woodman Denver, CO 1958–New York, NY 1981 left to right: Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island gelatin silver print, 1977; printed 1999 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan Self-portrait with teacher, early 1970s Gelatin silver print, circa 1970 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection Untitled (from Eel Series, Rome) Gelatin silver print, 1977–1978 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Considered a prodigy who died by suicide at the age of twenty-two, Francesca Woodman made photographs where she inserted her nude body into different scenarios that Francesca Woodman
she constructed. At times, she abstracted
Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island
her body or concealed it in architecture
Self-portrait with teacher, early 1970s
to highlight how identity, symbolized by
Untitled (from Eel Series, Rome)
her performance or staging of her body, is mutable and is not fixed.
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Diane Arbus New York, NY 1923–New York, NY 1971 Circus Fat Lady with her Dog, Troubles (from People and their Pets series) Gelatin silver print, 1964 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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In this photograph, which is part of her series People and their Pets, Diane Arbus highlighted the relationship between the circus performer and her dog, Troubles. In doing so, she humanized her sitter’s identity from one whose job was to perform a morbid spectacle for entertaining circus visitors to a person who had complex lived experiences, including a close relationship with her canine companion.
Diane Arbus Circus Fat Lady with her Dog, Troubles (from People and their Pets series)
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Gauri Gill born Chandigarh, India 1970 Untitled (17) (from Acts of Appearance series) Archival pigment print, 2015 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Gauri Gill’s photograph features a reclining subject who wears a pink sari and a cobra mask. To make this image, Gill asks her sitter to select the head of an animal who is important to her or best portrays elements of human existence, such as emotions, or life stages. Then, the two work closely to stage this seemingly commonplace scene and to craft the sitter’s presentation of herself. In doing so, Gill describes this photograph as a work that asks the sitter and the viewer to “think about what happens when we choose to self-reflexively play ourselves out or enact the things we do unthinkingly most of the time.”
Gauri Gill Untitled (17) (from Acts of Appearance series)
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Edward Hopper Nyack, NY 1882–New York, NY 1967 Night Shadows Etching, 1921 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-333.1951
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Alex Katz born Brooklyn, NY 1927 Double Portrait Lithograph, 1960/63 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Michael and Kim Sherman U-4757.1996
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Alex Katz sketches two images of his wife Ada, with her characteristic bob hairstyle, directly on the lithographic stone, as she stands casually with her arms crossed. The informality of this print contrasts greatly with portraits in the adjacent galleries and speaks to the relaxing of fashion norms for women, best seen in her loose-fitting dress, throughout the twentieth century. Alex Katz Double Portrait
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David Park Boston, MA 1911–Berkeley, CA 1960 City Street Oil on canvas, 1955 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Howard S. Wilson Memorial U-582.1968
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A quotidian scene of a few individuals walking down a sidewalk, David Park’s City Street is a snapshot of city life that emphasizes the isolation one can feel in urban areas. To heighten the introspective mood of the painting, Park placed the viewer slightly above the scene. We look down on both the sidewalk and the almost-life-size figure whose racial identity, given the painter’s expressionistic use of color, is ambiguous. How we stand in relation to him is also unclear—he is placed against the picture plane, as if about to walk out of the painting and into our space.
David Park City Street
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Jaune Quick-To-See Smith born St. Ignatius, MT 1940 Wisdom/Knowledge; Humor; Tribe/Community; Nature/Medicine (from Survival Suite) Color lithograph, 1996 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-6850.1–4.2019
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In this series of prints, Jaune Quick-toSee Smith, an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, creates a portrait of Native American resilience. She visualizes the different social models, including wisdom, community, humor, and nature, that imbued Native Americans with the grit that helped them endure years of mass genocide and systematic oppression at the hands of white colonizers and the American government. In Tribe/ Community, the rabbit, who is usually considered a trickster, stands defiantly with its limbs akimbo, serving as a potent figure of resistance.
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith Wisdom/Knowledge; Humor; Tribe/Community; Nature/Medicine (from Survival Suite)
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Do-Ho Suh born Seoul, South Korea 1962 Karma White resin and wood base, 2007 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In Karma, which features a column of tiny blinded and crouching men standing on the shoulders of one who strides confidently forward, Do-Ho Suh uses the body to highlight the multiplicities of the human experience. Beyond its title, the sculpture can be interpreted in a number of ways, including the fallacy of blindly following a path, the futility of modern life, the path towards achieving enlightenment, and how much of society today has been built on the labor of ancestors.
Do-Ho Suh Karma
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Ambreen Butt born Lahore, Pakistan 1969 Zia-ud-din (16) (from Say My Name series) Collage of text on tea-stained paper, 2018 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund through the University of Nebraska Foundation U-6889.2019
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To make this collage, Ambreen Butt first printed the Arabic name Zia-ud-din on sheets of purple paper before painstakingly tearing them to bits and pasting them on a piece of tea-stained paper. They form an abstracted portrait of Zia-ud-din, a sixteen-year- old boy who was killed by American drone strikes in Pakistan. The spiral, with its dense center and radiating curves, recalls a bomb exploding against the earth. With the spiral shape and her deliberate naming of the young victim, Butt gives this violence a concrete form and meaning, thereby fighting against America’s tendency to view distant wars and deadly technologies as abstract. Ambreen Butt Zia-ud-din (16) (from Say My Name series)
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Renee Cox born Colgate, Jamaica 1960 Yo Mama’s Last Supper Five-color coupler prints flush-mounted to aluminum, 1996 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In Yo Mama’s Last Supper, Renee Cox literally inserts herself into spaces that traditionally have not been available for black women. She Renee Cox Yo Mama’s Last Supper
photographs herself as Christ at the center of her re-staging of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Last Supper and recasts all of the disciples as black, except for Judas. In doing so, she questions the Eurocentric world view that has shaped Christian religious imagery, commenting that “Christianity is big in the African American community, but there are no representations of us […] I took it upon myself to include people of color in these classic scenarios.”
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Edward Kienholz Fairfield, WA 1927–Hope, ID 1994 Nancy Reddin Kienholz Los Angeles, CA 1943–Houston, TX 2019 J.C. #36 Metal, wood, plastic, fabric, resin, and printed photograph assemblage, 1994 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Edward and Nancy Kienholz deemphasized the corporeal body of the crucified Christ, reducing the figure to metal handles and an axel scavenged from children’s wagons, hands and feet from dolls, and a printed photograph as the head. In doing so, the artists conveyed the pervasive nature of Christianity in contemporary society by highlighting how this abstract portrait of Christ’s death, which is made of so few quotidian materials, is still readily recognizable.
Edward Kienholz Nancy Reddin Kienholz J.C. #36
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Mark Rothko Daugavpils, Latvia 1903–New York, NY 1970 Yellow Band Oil on canvas, 1956 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, Thomas C. Woods Memorial N-130.1961
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In an interview that aired in 1943, Mark Rothko declared, “Today the artist is no longer constrained by the limitation that all of man’s experience is expressed by his outward appearance. Freed from the need of describing a particular person, the possibilities are endless. The whole of man’s experience becomes his model…” As such, his Yellow Band, which is made of blocks of vibrating colors, can be considered a collective and abstracted portrait of a postWorld War II consciousness, with the painter seeking to convey humanity’s struggles and Mark Rothko Yellow Band
ecstasies through these large planes of color.
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Renée Stout born Junction City, KS 1958 Legba and the Pearl Gourd Acrylic and varnish on paper, 2015 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-6860.2019
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Renée Stout paints an allegorical portrait of hoodoo, an African American form of spirituality grounded in African Yoruba deities, Caribbean vodou culture, and Christianity. Much like what Jaune Quick-to-See Smith does in Survival Suite, Stout points to the resilience Africans derived from these practices to endure their enslavement. However, the illusionism employed in this Renée Stout Legba and the Pearl Gourd
painting, seen in the shadows cast and the fictive pieces of tape painted on the sheet’s perimeter, points to the how these spiritual practices now provoke discomfort among black people because of the fear associated with these mystical powers.
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Dawoud Bey born Queens, NY 1953 A Girl with a Knife Nosepin, Brooklyn, NY Archival inkjet photograph, 1990; printed 2018 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Dawoud Bey photographs his teenage neighbor Naomi outside their building in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Adorned with a nose pin that Bey purchased from one of his favorite street vendors in the Village, Naomi gazes intensely into the camera lens. Even though it appears that she is addressing the viewer directly, the closely cropped photograph draws attention to the power Bey wields in framing his subject. He has crafted her identity to emphasize both her impressionable age and the intensity of her feelings.
Dawoud Bey A Girl with a Knife Nosepin, Brooklyn, NY
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Renee Cox born Colgate, Jamaica 1960 Yo Mama Gelatin silver print, 1993 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In this under-life-size self-portrait photograph, Renee Cox stands tall, clad only in a pair of black heels. Cox considers the many implications of femininity, motherhood, and race as she casts herself in the guise of the Virgin Mary and her young son as the Christ Child. In doing so, she points to the overwhelming whiteness that characterizes traditional Christian imagery, even though Christianity has played a significant role in African American lives in America.
Renee Cox Yo Mama
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Eric Fischl born New York, NY 1948 Untitled (Handstand) Pinned Mylar, 2017 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Eric Fischl captures an everyday moment for white, upper-middle-class individuals on suburban Long Island, New York, who try to enjoy their day at the beach. While their absorption in their own activities limits connections with their fellow beachgoers or with the viewer, their time for leisure reveals their socioeconomic privilege and their deliberate performance of their class. Eric Fischl Untitled (Handstand)
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Judith Shea born Philadelphia, PA 1948 Louise Monument: Portrait of Louise Bourgeois Carved polystyrene foam, carved balsa wood, felt, paper, clay, paint, cotton, and horsehair, 2011–2012 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In Louise Monument, Judith Shea translates her personal impressions of the great twentieth-century artist Louise Bourgeois into sculpture. Shea drapes the sculpted figure in huge swaths of fabric, recalling Bourgeois’s use of textiles and feminine imagery. She also emphasizes Bourgeois’s steely determination and grandeur, unexpected because of the eminent artist’s petite stature. Made as part of an exhibition at the National Academy in New York, Shea’s sculpture thus calls attention to the often-neglected role women played in the development of both portraiture and conceptual art in the United States.
Judith Shea Louise Monument: Portrait of Louise Bourgeois
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Roger Shimomura born Seattle, WA 1939 Block Dance Break #2 Acrylic on canvas, 2006 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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For Block Dance Break #2, Roger Shimomura draws on his childhood experience of being detained with his family in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. Depicting a young woman taking a restroom break during one of the dances the camp would hold before enlisted men were sent to the front, Shimomura depicts what seems like a moment of respite, but the realities of latrines without running water and mass incarceration by the American government were inescapable.
Roger Shimomura Block Dance Break #2
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Kehinde Wiley born Los Angeles, CA 1977 Passing/Posing (The Revenge of Consumption) Oil on canvas, 2003 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Kehinde Wiley challenges stereotypes of African American men by asking them to pose for elaborate portraits that he executes in the style of sumptuous Renaissance and Baroque paintings. In doing so, he not only highlights African Americans’ absence from the canon of art history, but he also gives power to these individuals by asking them to occupy the spaces—both literal on the walls of the museum and metaphorical as the subject of the painting—historically held by white people. Kehinde Wiley Passing/Posing (The Revenge of Consumption)
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Radcliffe Bailey born Bridgeton, NJ 1968 Distant Stars II Mixed media on wood, 1998 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Radcliffe Bailey creates collages that investigate the geographic extent and continued emotional impact of the African Diaspora. By centering the African American experience in his work through, for example, his inclusion here of a large reproduction of a vintage photograph of an African American man, Distant Stars II powerfully reminds us that the African presence in America was the direct result of the forced migration of Africans as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. He further underscores that point by inscribing faintly on the plexiglass above the photographed sitter’s head the outline of a Radcliffe Bailey
Mende mask, a symbol of a bridge between
Distant Stars II
the earthly and spiritual realms for the Mende people of Sierra Leone.
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Willie Birch born New Orleans, LA 1942 African American Survival Ensemble Acrylic and pencil on paper, 1993 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Drawing on his experience growing up in segregated New Orleans and years living in New York during the 1970s, Willie Birch highlights the centrality of jazz for African Americans in African American Survival Ensemble. He specifically refers to loft jazz, developed in New York during the 1960s and 1970s to break down traditional jazz sounds and conventions even further beyond the innovations of free jazz in the years just previous. By inscribing the names of African American musicians who played at the Studio Rivbea in the East Village, he locates loft jazz as the center of survival, resilience, innovation, and community.
Willie Birch African American Survival Ensemble
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Barkley L. Hendricks Philadelphia, PA 1945–New London, CT 2017 Bid ‘Em In/Slave (Angie) Oil and acrylic on canvas, 1973 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-5540.2009
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Barkley Hendricks painted Angie as a bold figure. She stands defiantly against a pink background with her arms crossed in front of her. Her natural hair in a voluminous afro calls attention to how implicitly white American beauty standards subjugate black femininity, while her shirt—with the word “slave” printed across the front—points to how members of the black community continually negotiate the traumas from and repercussions of slavery.
Barkley L. Hendricks Bid ‘Em In/Slave (Angie)
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Shirin Neshat born Qazvin, Iran 1957 Tooba Series Cibachrome print and ink, 2002 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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In 2002, the Iranian photographer and video artist Shirin Neshat made Tooba, a film that investigates Iranian identity and a migration of individuals to an imagined utopia, which is symbolized by the “tooba,” a tree that would provide shelter and sustenance to the Sufis. In this still from Neshat’s film, the woman’s weathered skin and age underscore the difficulties of her journey. Yet her serene expression also suggests a quiet hope for the future as an Iranian woman, an identity that is reinforced through the lines of Farsi poetry superimposed on face.
Shirin Neshat Tooba Series
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Catherine Opie born Sandusky, OH 1961 Divinity Fudge Chromogenic color print, 1997 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-5589.2010
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Working during the culture wars of the 1990s, Catherine Opie made photographs of her friends from the queer community to make these individuals visible during the height of the AIDS epidemic. By posing the performance artist Divinity Fudge (Darryl Carlton) against a vibrant marigold backdrop, Opie, in a radical move for the period, equates her marginalized friends with the aristocrats painted by the sixteenth-century German artist Hans Holbein through the sumptuously colored backgrounds and great dignity given to the subjects.
Catherine Opie Divinity Fudge
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Nathaniel Mary Quinn born Chicago, IL 1977 left to right: Ms. Barrett Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel on Coventry Vellum paper, 2017 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan Lil’ Barbara Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel on Coventry Vellum paper, 2017 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Nathaniel Mary Quinn mines his personal history and incorporates found images from magazines and the internet to create these fragmented and hybrid bodies in an attempt to reconstruct individuals from his past. On his creative process, he says that he is guided by his feelings, and not his thoughts, Nathaniel Mary Quinn
because emotions “[allow] for the exploration
Ms. Barrett
of the human spectrum, the color rainbow of
Lil’ Barbara
identity—the possibilities, the freedom, the liberty, the pursuit of greatness.”
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Yinka Shonibare CBE born London, England 1962 Dad, Dad, and the Kids Life-size mannequins, Dutch wax printed cotton textiles, and leather shoes, 2000 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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With these four headless mannequins who face each other, Yinka Shonibare adroitly comments on the problems of colonialism and a strict adherence to the traditional definition of a nuclear family. The colorful patterned fabric he uses has served as visual shorthand for African identity since the 1960s, even though the Dutch wax-printed cotton textile had its roots in Indonesia before Dutch colonizers brought the material to Europe, Yinka Shonibare CBE
where it was produced in English factories for
Dad, Dad, and the Kids
the West African market in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. By literally cloaking the figures in the legacy and complications of colonialism, Shonibare then asks the viewer to rethink the idea of a nuclear family today and suggests that considering it as simply a mother, a father, and two children is outdated.
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Diane Arbus New York, NY 1923–New York, NY 1971 Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NYC Gelatin silver print, 1962 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-2155.1976
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Stephan Balkenhol born Fritzlar, Germany 1957 Lady with Red Dress Oil on carved wawa wood, 2001 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Stephan Balkenhol’s Lady with a Red Dress stands statically and gazes past the viewer. This detachment then prompts the questions: how does a person visually communicate their identity, and how can we use that information to connect with one another? The exposed pedestal base gives the viewer an idea of the material used in the sculpture, but lends no further clues to the woman’s identity.
Stephan Balkenhol Lady with Red Dress
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Jean-Michel Basquiat New York, NY 1960–New York, NY 1988 Untitled, From Leonardo Silkscreen on Okawara rice paper, 1983 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-5001.1–5.1999
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In this series of prints, Jean-Michel Basquiat made a series of sketches that were then printed in silkscreen. His quick drawings show an interest in both human anatomy and antique sculpture, subjects that regularly served as cornerstones of an artist’s training in the art academies. These sketches also reveal an immediacy that is similar to the drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, whom Basquiat specifically referenced in the title. By situating his studio practice in this rich tradition of art making, Basquiat, who is of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, points out how non-white artists have gone unrepresented in the discipline of art history.
Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled, From Leonardo
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Enrique Chagoya born Mexico City, Mexico 1953 Le Cannibale Moderniste Mixed media on paper on linen, 1999 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Alexander Liberman and Frances Sheldon by exchange U-5081.2002
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In this painting, Enrique Chagoya takes aim at the traditional narratives of art history that have long celebrated the contributions of white male artists and erased histories of indigenous and marginalized peoples. Even though he sets this seemingly idyllic scene in Enrique Chagoya
Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, with other
Le Cannibale Moderniste
references to canonical figures of modernism such as Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and Josef Albers, Chagoya pointedly gives voice to the marginalized and the cultures that modernism “cannibalized” through appropriation. He illustrates this point most literally by depicting a person of color who chops off and gnaws on Picasso’s right arm.
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Rineke Dijkstra born Sittyard, Netherlands 1959 Accra, Ghana, Africa Chromogenic print, 1996 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Photographing her two subjects in exquisite detail, Rineke Dijkstra sets the boys against a stark white background in order to ask the viewer to focus on the sitters. Standing in valmost identical poses, the boys gaze into the camera with a direct nonchalance that also reveals their apprehension at being photographed. Dijkstra embraces the power of such a moment when this performance of identity is captured on film, noting, “People think that they present themselves one way, but they cannot help but show something else as well. It’s impossible to have everything under control.” Rineke Dijkstra Accra, Ghana, Africa
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Lesley Dill born Bronxville, NY 1950 Queen of Copper Letters Copper, wire, and steel, 2007 Kathryn and Marc LeBaron Private Collection
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Incorporating lengthy strings of text that wind through the very metallic fabric of the gown and headdress, Lesley Dill fuses the human form with its clothing and accessories. In doing so, Dill explores the multifaceted nature of words and suggests that language and gender are constructs, or concepts given meaning through historical or social circumstances.
Lesley Dill Queen of Copper Letters
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Michael Eastman born St. Louis, MO 1947 Fidel’s Stairway #2 Digital chromogenic color print, 1999 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Gift of Kathryn and Marc LeBaron, Roseann and Philip Perry, Lisa and Thomas Smith, and funds from Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust U-6800.2018
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Even though Michael Eastman’s photograph does not depict the human form, these stairs embody Fidel Castro’s legacy, which lingers in Havana, Cuba. Painted on the wall are the dictator’s words, which he repeated frequently, from a speech he gave in October 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro publicly defied the United States and boldly asserted Cuban independence by declaring “For this, we say country or death!”
Michael Eastman Fidel’s Stairway #2
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Alfred Leslie born New York, NY 1927 left to right: Hugh Malena Soft ground etchings on Arches Cover White paper, 1992 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust H-2999–3000.1992
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In the 1990s, Alfred Leslie made a series of grisaille, or gray-scale, paintings after which he based these etchings. The two over-lifesize nude figures are lit dramatically so that their bodies seem three-dimensional and emerge from the flatness of the sheet. Their frontality and directness also emphasize their accumulation of lived experiences, Alfred Leslie Hugh
made physically evident by the scars on their bodies.
Malena
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Marisol Paris, France 1930–New York, NY 2016 Magritte V Oil and graphite on wood with umbrella, 1998 On loan from Karen and Robert Duncan
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Like Judith Shea, whose work is on view in the adjacent gallery, Marisol conveyed her personal impressions of the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte in this homage. Instead of capturing his personality, Marisol highlighted one of the most distinctive parts of Magritte’s studio practice: his repeated challenging of preconceived notions of reality. Though she complemented this sculpture of the artist with a found object—the umbrella—she drew his face and suit on the block of wood, instead of carving it as expected.
Marisol Magritte V
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