X
Wilson creates art that reveals the power of institutions, such as museums, through the histories they tell and those they omit. Working in a variety of mediums, he explores how these choices reflect social and economic class, as well as perpetuate racial, sexual, and cultural narratives and biases. In X, Wilson combines an image of the activist Malcolm X, based on Marion S. Trikosko’s 1964 photograph of him at a press conference on civil rights given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the U.S. Capitol, with the divisive 1883–84 portrait of the Parisian-based socialite Madame Pierre Gautreau by John Singer Sargent (a work popularly known as Madame X, on view at The Met). Despite facing opposite directions, the figures share the same space and seem to engage in a dialogue.
Artwork Details
- Title: X
- Artist: Fred Wilson (American, born New York, 1954)
- Publisher: Exit Art/The First World
- Printer: Pamplemousse Press
- Date: 2005
- Medium: Digital chromogenic print on coated plastic sheet
- Dimensions: 21 × 20 in. (53.3 × 50.8 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: John B. Turner Fund, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.316
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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