2010.573: Untitled
SculptureGallery Text
Salcedo’s sculpture implies the presence of an absent body. In works such as this, the artist uses domestic objects, altered so that they no longer function as intended, to confront issues of social injustice and political violence. Suggestive of the chairs used for brutal state interrogations, this work serves as a witness to the lives lost in Colombia’s civil war. Salcedo created wax and paper models in Bogotà, then had the steel parts fabricated in a New York foundry and shipped back to Colombia, where she reconfigured the sculpture in her studio, fastidiously hand carving wood grain into the seat and legs. While one could sit in the chair, its open back and cold surface render it uninviting; one back corner is crumpled, as if someone had used the chair as a weapon. Subtle traces of violence emanate from this common object, indelibly incised on its stainless steel surface.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2010.573
- People
-
Doris Salcedo, Colombian (Bogota, Colombia born 1958)
- Title
- Untitled
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Work Type
- sculpture
- Date
- 2004-2005
- Places
- Creation Place: South America, Colombia
- Culture
- Colombian
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/337096
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Stainless steel
- Technique
- Carved
- Dimensions
-
106.7 x 40.6 x 38.1 cm (42 x 16 x 15 in.)
96 pounds
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
- Doris Salcedo created, 2005; Alan and Alison Schwartz, Toronto (2005-2010), sold; [through Alexander and Bonin, New York]; to Harvard Art Museums, 2010.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Cowles, by exchange
- Copyright
- © Doris Salcedo
- Accession Year
- 2010
- Object Number
- 2010.573
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
Publication History
- Mary Schneider Enriquez, Doris Salcedo, and Narayan Khandekar, Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2016), p. 139, ill. (color)
Exhibition History
- Portrait/Homage/Embodiment, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 11/03/2006 - 06/30/2007
- Re-View: European and American Art Since 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/03/2011 - 06/01/2013
- 32Q: 1120 Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/13/2016
- 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024
- Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/04/2016 - 04/09/2017
Related Articles
Verification Level
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu