LOT Phillips de Pury & Company  /  PHOTOGRAPHS PART II  / 

175

CARRIE MAE WEEMS (American, b. 1953) UNTITLED signed and editioned

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
CARRIE MAE WEEMS (American, b. 1953) UNTITLED signed and editioned
CARRIE MAE WEEMS (American, b. 1953) UNTITLED signed and editioned "Carrie M. Weems 25/25" in pencil on verso gelatin silver print 19 1/16 x 18 15/16 in. (48.4 x 48.1 cm) 1990 this print is number 25 from an edition of 25 a variant from the KITCHEN TABLE series from the portfolio PORTRAITS, Printed Matter, NEW YORK, 1995 PROVENANCE Private Collection, NEW YORK LITERATURE Andrea Kirsh and Susan Fisher Sterling, CARRIE MAE WEEMS, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1994, pp. 65-89 (series illustrated, pl. 27 illustrates a variant of this image as part of a triptych) Carrie Mae Weems states: "The focus of my work is to describe simply and directly those aspects of American culture in need of deeper illumination." Carrie Mae Weems explores how society's perceptions of race, gender, age, ethnicity, and class are shaped through popular and commercial imagery. This image, printed for the portfolio PORTRAITS, is a variant from Carrie Mae Weems' KITCHEN TABLE series, a group of 11 single photographs, 3 triptychs and a series of text panels. The series depicts the conflicts between a woman's political and emotional needs in contemporary culture. The woman is played by the photographer, but never identified in the text panels as anything but "woman," as if she could represent any woman. The shots are highly choreographed with elements of the setting that remain constant throughout the series. Each image is set in the same kitchen, which consists of a long table and an overhead light that emits light so strong that it evokes elements of interrogation rooms and "becomes a metaphor for the artist's examination of the woman's life" (Kirsh, p. 14). This particular image is a variant from one of those in the first triptych series called Untitled (man reading newspaper). This is the final image in the first sequence when the viewer witnesses the tension of the woman and her unfulfilled needs. The viewer is invited to observe, particularly due to the table, which extends past the frame of the photograph and into our space. The man sits at the head of the table, reading the paper, ignoring her presence, as the woman tries to display her needs.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot