The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Backdrops, Circa 1940s
1998
(American, b. 1960)
Right: 66.1 x 42.7 x 0.4 cm (26 x 16 13/16 x 3/16 in.)
Dr. Gerard and Phyllis Seltzer Fund 1998.186.b
© Lorna Simpson, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Location: not on view
Description
In this work, Lorna Simpson confronts the historical fact that African American women were rarely glamorized in Hollywood productions of the 1940s; their role in films was most often limited to that of household servant. The left panel depicts a melancholy African American woman in a white dress posing amid a fake moon and stars. The blurriness and muted contrasts achieved by printing on felt render the woman's skin, hair, and dress almost indistinguishable from the contrasts of the stage set. On the right a detail of singer Lena Horne is barely recognizable because the edges of the support sever her face and body. The illegibility and near invisibility of the women in each image aligns with Simpson's exploration of the marginalization of black women in American culture.- Photographs in Ink. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20, 2022-April 2, 2023).The Cleveland Museum of Art (1/26/2014 - 5/18/2014); "Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings"Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-May 18, 2014).Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): April 13, 2009 - September 11, 2009.From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17-November 26, 2000).Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; September 17 - November 26, 2000. "From Rembrandt to Rauschenberg: Recently Acquired Prints."
- {{cite web|title=Backdrops, Circa 1940s|url=false|author=Lorna Simpson, Karen McCready Fine Art; printer: Jean-Yves Noblet at Noblet Sérigraphie, New York|year=1998|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.186.b