2010.473: "Untitled" (Portrait of Michael Jenkins)
PaintingsThe painting runs along the walls of the third-floor corridor just below the ceiling. The text is blue in italics and reads, in part, Frank Johnson 1965 School Bus 1970 Black Umbrellas 1636 eyjafjallajal.
Gallery Text
Noted conceptual artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres conceived of his word portraits as a way to bridge personal and communal experience. Composed of a series of seemingly unrelated texts referencing specific events and dates, Gonzalez-Torres’s word portraits record occurrences that are both highly personal to the portrait’s owner (whether an individual or institution) and historic in nature, underscoring the importance of shared experience in the shaping of identity. Here, placed within the context of an installation of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern art, “Untitled” (Portrait of Michael Jenkins) calls particular attention to the ways in which events of the past shape our understanding of the present.Part of the responsibility of owning the portrait includes adding (and subtracting) events. In Winter 2014, a group of nine Harvard undergraduates participated in intensive discussions about Gonzalez-Torres’s work and the conceptual framework informing this portrait. Each student proposed two texts with dates drawn from formative personal experiences, both public and private, that were then shared with the group. Eight of these events were added to Gonzalez-Torres’s original words.The text evokes static historical friezes that reach back to the Classical past, yet its variability reflects the mutability of history and its interpretation by individuals across time and place.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2010.473
- People
-
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, American (Guaimaro, Cuba 1957 - 1996 Miami, FL)
- Title
- "Untitled" (Portrait of Michael Jenkins)
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting
- Date
- 1991
- Places
- Creation Place: North America, United States, New York, New York City
- Culture
- American
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/336313
Location
- Location
-
Level 3, Room 3410, South Arcade
View this object's location on our interactive map
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- paint on wall
- Dimensions
- dimensions vary with installation
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- Signed: Unsigned (signed certificate)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
Felix Gonzalez-Torres created 1991; gift from Felix Gonzalez-Torres to Michael Jenkins, 1991; Collection of Michael Jenkins (1991-2006), sold; [through Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York], to; Private Collection (2006-2010), sold; [through Andrea Rosen Gallery, 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
- © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation
- Accession Year
- 2010
- Object Number
- 2010.473
- 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
- Ilse Kuijken, Gonzalez-Torres: beelden van angst en isolatie, De Standaard (1991), p. 7
- Cate McQuaid, Contemporary art in the foreground at Harvard Art Museums, The Boston Globe (Boston, MA, November 1, 2014)
Exhibition History
- Felix Gonzalez-Torres / Michael Jenkins, Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, 01/01/1991 - 01/01/1991
- 32Q: 3410 South Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050
- Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, 05/05/2016 - 06/18/2016
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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