id: 151845
accession number: 1984.170
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1984.170
updated: 2025-04-16 18:16:31.658000
Speakers, 1983. Gilbert and George (British). Gelatin silver print, hand-colored photo-piece; overall: 241.9 x 303.9 cm (95 1/4 x 119 5/8 in.); each section: 60.5 x 50.3 cm (23 13/16 x 19 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1984.170
title: Speakers
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1983
creation date earliest: 1983
creation date latest: 1983
current location:
creditline: John L. Severance Fund
copyright:
---
culture: England, 20th century
technique: gelatin silver print, hand-colored photo-piece
department: Photography
collection: PH - British 20th Century
type: Photograph
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
---
CREATORS
* Gilbert and George (British) - artist
Gilbert and George Gilbert Proesch British, b. Italy, 1943-; and George Passmore British, 1942- Gilbert and George first began collaborating while students at St. Martin's School of Art in 1967. Trained during a time when conceptual art was an important influence on the art world, the duo rejected the notion of "art for art's sake" by incorporating into their work significant content rooted in social issues and contemporary society. Their earliest works questioned the nature of the art object by emphasizing the creative concept and process of art through performance. In these initial presentations, they appeared at exhibitions as "living sculptures," dressed in trademark suits and ties with their faces and hands painted, to act out their art. During the 1970s, Gilbert (born in Dolomites) and George (born in Totnes, Devon) began to employ photography, books, and video in their work. Their first photo-pieces, made in 1971, were loose assemblages of black-and-white images that juxtaposed iconic fragments from nature and culture with self-portraits. In 1974 they used red to enhance the expressive qualities of the photographs. During the 1980s, their subjects shifted from social concerns toward more personal issue -- fears and anxieties that often encompassed sexual themes. In addition to exhibiting their work in many group shows, the pair have had solo shows at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1981), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1985), and the National Art Gallery, Beijing (1993). In 1986 they were awarded the Turner Prize by the Tate Gallery, London. The subject of books and films, they are today best known for their large, brightly colored, gridlike photo-pieces in which individual images are segmented and recombined to form an autonomous whole. Gilbert and George live in London. A.W.
---
measurements: Overall: 241.9 x 303.9 cm (95 1/4 x 119 5/8 in.); Each section: 60.5 x 50.3 cm (23 13/16 x 19 13/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: Photographically printed onto recto: "SPEAKERS"; written in yellow paint on recto: "Gilbert + George [signed] / 1983"
translation:
remark:
---
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review for 1984
opening date: 1985-04-03T05:00:00
Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
---
LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Anthony d\'Offay Gallery, London, March 21 - May 4, 1984: "The Believing World: An Exhibition of New Works by Gilbert & George," exhibition catalogue p. , repr. on cover.', 'opening_date': '1984-03-21T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'CMA, April 3 - May 5, 1985: "Year in Review 1984," CMA Bulletin, 72 (April 1985), p. 202, no. 48, repr. p. 199.', 'opening_date': '1985-04-03T00:00:00'}
---
PROVENANCE
---
fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
---
RELATED WORKS
---
CITATIONS
Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207.
page number: Mentioned: p. 202, no. 48; Reproduced: p. 199
url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159897
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 185
url:
Jahn, Wolf. The Meaning of the Earth. London: Hurtwood Press Limited, 2023.
page number: Reproduced: p. 220; Mentioned: p. 219-220, 232
url:
---
IMAGES