id:			160328
accession number:	1998.186.b
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1998.186.b
updated:		2025-02-14 13:29:56.858000

Backdrops, Circa 1940s, 1998. Lorna Simpson (American, b. 1960). Screenprint on felt panel; right: 66.1 x 42.7 x 0.4 cm (26 x 16 13/16 x 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dr. Gerard and Phyllis Seltzer Fund 1998.186.b © Lorna Simpson, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

title:				Backdrops, Circa 1940s
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1998
creation date earliest:		1998
creation date latest:		1998
current location:		
creditline:			Dr. Gerard and Phyllis Seltzer Fund
copyright:			© Lorna Simpson, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

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culture:	America
technique:	Screenprint on felt panel
department:	Prints
collection:	PR - Screenprint
type:		Print
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Lorna Simpson (American, b. 1960)  - artist
Lorna Simpson uses photography to invert cultural stereotypes about race, class, and gender by decoding and reordering visual and verbal languages. Born in Brooklyn, she began taking documentary photographs throughout the United States and abroad in the late 1970s. While in graduate school at the University of California, San Diego (M.F.A., 1985), Simpson began to question the objectivity of such images and examine how these documents are generally perceived. In the mid-1980s, Simpson garnered critical acclaim for her series of large-scale black-and-white portraits of Black men and women. Photographed from behind and inserted into stark, flat backgrounds, Simpson juxtaposed her anonymous portraits with poetic text fragments to reveal underlying racial and gender stereotypes in American culture. In 1990, Simpson became the first African-American woman to present a one-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
* Karen McCready Fine Art; printer: Jean-Yves Noblet at Noblet Sérigraphie, New York  - publisher

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measurements: Right: 66.1 x 42.7 x 0.4 cm (26 x 16 13/16 x 3/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	3/35 plus 10 artist's proofs

support materials:

	description:	two pieces of felt
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	numbered 3/35 and signed in graphite on verso
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg:  Recently Acquired Prints
	opening date:   2000-09-17T00:00:00
	<i>From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg:  Recently Acquired Prints</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17-November 26, 2000).

	title:		Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings
	opening date:   2014-01-24T00:00:00
	<i>Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-May 18, 2014).

	title:		Photographs in Ink
	opening date:   2022-11-19T05:00:00
	<i>Photographs in Ink</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20, 2022-April 2, 2023).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* {'description': 'Cleveland, Ohio:  The Cleveland Museum of Art; September 17 - November 26, 2000.  "From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg:  Recently Acquired Prints."', 'opening_date': '2000-09-17T00:00:00'}

* {'description': 'Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): April 13, 2009 - September 11, 2009.', 'opening_date': '2009-04-13T00:00:00'}

* {'description': 'The Cleveland Museum of Art (1/26/2014 - 5/18/2014); "Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings"', 'opening_date': '2014-01-26T00:00:00'}

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PROVENANCE

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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IMAGES