id: 393748
accession number: 2020.242
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.242
updated: 2023-03-22 03:05:29.393000
Untitled (1991 for Parkett 27), 1991. Robert Gober (American, b. 1954), printed by Maurice Sanchez & Joe Petruzzelli, Derrière L'Etoile Studio, published by Parkett. Lithograph on newsprint with handtorn edges, printed on both sides and folded three times, hand-colored with coffee (coffee stain) by the artist; sheet: 55.5 x 34.5 cm (21 7/8 x 13 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Stephen Dull 2020.242 © Robert Gober, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
title: Untitled (1991 for Parkett 27)
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1991
creation date earliest: 1991
creation date latest: 1991
current location: 230 Photography
creditline: Gift of Stephen Dull
copyright: © Robert Gober, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: lithograph on newsprint with handtorn edges, printed on both sides and folded three times, hand-colored with coffee (coffee stain) by the artist
department: Prints
collection: PR - Lithograph
type: Print
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Robert Gober (American, b. 1954) - artist
* Maurice Sanchez & Joe Petruzzelli, Derrière L'Etoile Studio - printer
* Parkett - publisher
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measurements: Sheet: 55.5 x 34.5 cm (21 7/8 x 13 9/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work: Edition 1/75 (each unique)
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: Inscribed lower left in graphite: “R. Gober”, “1/75”, and “’91)
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Photographs in Ink
opening date: 2022-11-20T05:00:00
Photographs in Ink. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20, 2022-April 2, 2023).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
(Parkett Publishers, New York, NY)
date: 2014
footnotes:
citations:
Stephen Dull, Shaker Heights, OH
date: 2014-2020
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: September 14, 2020
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
The coffee stain on this fabricated newspaper page was in fact meticulously painted on by the artist.
digital description:
Robert Gober’s Untitled seems to be a real page out of the Metropolitan section of the New York Times from Thursday, October 4, 1960, but in fact it has been meticulously fabricated—by way of patched-together stories, found photographs, and invented newspaper copy—by the artist. The announcements of sunny weather, a strong market, and wedding nuptials are interspersed with alarming stories about a twelve-year-old girl held prisoner by her parents in a closet, and the drowning of a boy in a pool. The drowned child’s name is Robert Gober, and the date is the year Gober turned six. This reference to his own imagined death set within optimistic announcements of marriage and market earnings aligns with Gober’s fascination, throughout his work, with the contrasts between life’s simultaneously hopeful and horrific existence.
wall description:
October 4, 1960, seems to have been a normal day. Pleasant weather was predicted for most of the country and a number of brides appear next to their wedding announcements in this page from the New York Time’s Metropolitan section. But three interspersed news stories hint that all might not be as it seems. In fact, this page is a total fabrication by Robert Gober. The artist found or invented the text and assembled the page down to the cut edges, folds, and hand-applied coffee ring, slyly inserting subversive narratives into this everyday object.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Axsom, Richard H. “What Seems to Be Isn’t: Robert Gober’s Untitled (1999)[sic]. Art in Print Vol. 5/No. 5 (Jan.-Feb. 2016)
page number: p. 36-7
url:
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IMAGES