The Whistlers
The almost-twin figures of two naked women facing each other are rendered with empathetic detail. One figure purses her lips and appears to be showing her companion how to whistle, her left hand slightly raised as if in tune with a rising note. The figure on the right mimics the expression and strains to follow, her left hand hovering as if to steady herself in the effort. An interest in representing the body in tenuous states of life has led Toland to focus on the ungainly bodies of the very young and the old, or, as the artist says, "to go after vulnerability . . . that’s where we find our humanity." The mirroring of these figures in form and countenance serves to echo this fragility.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Whistlers
- Artist: Tip Toland (American, born Pottstown, Pennsylvania, 1950)
- Date: 2005
- Medium: Stoneware, paint, pastel, synthetic hair
- Dimensions: Overall: 21 3/4 × 47 1/4 × 24 in., 65.2 lb. (55.3 × 120 × 61 cm, 29.6 kg)
- Classification: Ceramics-Pottery
- Credit Line: Gift of Dale and Doug Anderson, 2011
- Object Number: 2011.591a, b
- Rights and Reproduction: © Tip Toland
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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