In contemporary visual culture, portrait that epitomizes a wide range of identities – personal, sexual, national, ethnic, or religious, has gained a different dimension outside the commercial realm. It has become a powerful and controversial means of communication between the artist and the viewer who is invited to interpret the portrait-photograph at various levels.
From this perspective, “Photography and the Self: The Legacy of F. Holland Day” at Whitney Museum of American Art calls attention to the self-portraiture with a collection whose center-artifact is “The Seven Words” (1898) by Day. The exhibition picks up Day’s performative portraiture, and juxtaposes contemporary artists with a focus on the 1960s onward.
“[Christ] is just like a piece of art. . . the beautiful white Christ,” Oscar Wilde asserted. Deeply influenced by Wilde, F. Holland Day (1864-1933) created a series of depiction of Christ on the cross. Each of Day’s seven platinum prints at Whitney mezzanine, positions itself as a reference to Christ’s seven statements in the time between his crucifixion and his death. For his project, Day grew his hair and beard, and lost weight to capture the picturesqueness. At this point, other photographers/artists explore the performed portraiture from their point of view.
Curated by Carrie Springer, the exhibition puts together the portraits in which artists’ own bodies are used as the object/raw material. Although the size of the show remains small due to the limitation to the Whitney’s collection, the photographs introduce an elaborate investigation of the theatrical depiction of the artist-centric photographs.
Among the artists, Cindy Sherman draws attention with “Untitled” (2004) in which she depicts a nonchalant clown. Considered as a touchstone for the photographic portraiture, Sherman appears again with her play with the notion of identity and of the masquerade we live in.
Creating an antithesis of the controlled portraits, Adrian Piper articulates himself through a series of fourteen photographs that gradually blacken. In the “Food for the Spirit” (1971), Piper who faces the camera and hence the viewer, becomes almost invisible because of the darkness. The project opens up a wide range of connotations from the critique of racism to the confirmation of the self.
One of the disguised artists, Lyle Ashton Harris chooses the famous jazz vocal Billie Holiday as the centre of his self-portrait – “Billie #21” (2002). The artist’s iconographic photograph positions the African-American subject as a self-reflecting and powerful figure who stands up for life.
Moreover, Hannah Wilke (1940-1993) examines gender inequality and sexism in “S.O.S. Stratification Object Series” (1974) with a delicate discourse. The artist questions the labels used for women, and the perception of female body in the society. Wilke’s portrait arises as a part of her eight-year project that started as a performance in which the artist collected the chewing gums from her audience, molded them into vulva-shaped forms, and attached to her skin.
Besides the ones mentioned above, the exhibition includes the photographs of Chris Burden, Robert Gober, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Charles Ray, Lucas Samaras, Carrie Mae Weems, and Francesca Woodman.
In sum, there is an important point to be underlined: Day’s intention for “The Seven Words” radically differs from the other works: it is argued that the theatrical imposture in Day’s project is related to his reverence and devotion for his subject matter, whereas his contemporaries use reactionary stances against specific discourses. However, this does not change the fact that fascinating show –“Photography and the Self: The Legacy of F. Holland Day” successfully undertakes the question of how a performative portrait functions.
On view through March 4, 2007.
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
[Published in Free Press Binghamton, March 1, 2007]
