Description
A revelatory first look at the painting practice of artist Lorna Simpson, whose work combines abstraction and figuration to highlight issues of identity and representation
Though Lorna Simpson (b. 1960) is perhaps best known as a photographer, this publication is the first to examine a significant new development in her work of the last ten years: paintings that advance her incisive explorations of gender, race, and history. These works, midway between photography and painting, combine screen-printed collages of found images with washes of colorful ink on fiberglass, wood, or clayboard. Drawing on documentary photographs and images from vintage Ebony and Jet magazines, Simpson's paintings include bodies that emerge and disappear, peering from inky surfaces or dissolving into landscapes of melting ice. The texts in this volume explore how Simpson's fascination with the politics of representation propels her experiments in works that are both figurative and abstract, portraits and landscapes, paintings and photographs.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(May 19-November 2, 2025)
About the Author
Lauren Rosati is an associate curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and research projects manager in the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. David Breslin is Leonard A. Lauder Curator in Charge in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hilton Als is a staff writer at the New Yorker and an associate professor at Columbia University School of the Arts. Adrienne Edwards is Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and associate director of curatorial programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Book Information
ISBN 9781588398000
Author Lauren Rosati
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Metropolitan Museum of Art
Publisher Metropolitan Museum of Art
Though Lorna Simpson (b. 1960) is perhaps best known as a photographer, this publication is the first to examine a significant new development in her work of the last ten years: paintings that advance her incisive explorations of gender, race, and history. These works, midway between photography and painting, combine screen-printed collages of found images with washes of colorful ink on fiberglass, wood, or clayboard. Drawing on documentary photographs and images from vintage Ebony and Jet magazines, Simpson's paintings include bodies that emerge and disappear, peering from inky surfaces or dissolving into landscapes of melting ice. The texts in this volume explore how Simpson's fascination with the politics of representation propels her experiments in works that are both figurative and abstract, portraits and landscapes, paintings and photographs.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(May 19-November 2, 2025)
About the Author
Lauren Rosati is an associate curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and research projects manager in the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. David Breslin is Leonard A. Lauder Curator in Charge in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hilton Als is a staff writer at the New Yorker and an associate professor at Columbia University School of the Arts. Adrienne Edwards is Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and associate director of curatorial programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Book Information
ISBN 9781588398000
Author Lauren Rosati
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Metropolitan Museum of Art
Publisher Metropolitan Museum of Art
