Table Of ContentJanine 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.
•
