Venus envy : chapters I-IV
Catalog of a four-part exhibition series staged between 1993-2008 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY from January 21 - April 2, 1993; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, 1994; Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, NY, 1997; Menil Collection, TX, 2008; and SFMOMA, CA from June 18-November 6, 2022
"Venus Envy: Chapters I-IV documents the four-part Venus Envy Series of autobiographical installations completed over several decades by Amalia Mesa-Bains to chronicle four chapters in her life as a Chicana woman. It uses historic photographs in an accordion-fold structure to illustrate the series undertaken between 1993 and 2008. These images are accompanied by significant texts by art historian and critic Jennifer A. González. The Venus Envy Series is a narrative through personal and collective feminist perspectives of the artist Amalia Mesa-Bains's life stages, from early childhood to marriage to aging. The story unfolds through a number of altar-installations using an aesthetic of vernacular abundance and accumulation done in settings of religious splendor, secret spaces of the feminine, and archaic landscapes of paradise. It is situated in a historical continuum from the present to the colonial period of European expansion into the Orient to the time of the Aztec Empire, and it ends in a reflection on health challenges leading to healing and recovery. These contemporary practices of wonder and beauty are at the same time a woman's political remembrance of conflict and joy, sorrow and loss and resilience."-- Moving Parts Press website (viewed 06/22/2022)
"Venus Envy: Chapters I-IV documents the four-part Venus Envy Series of autobiographical installations completed over several decades by Amalia Mesa-Bains to chronicle four chapters in her life as a Chicana woman. It uses historic photographs in an accordion-fold structure to illustrate the series undertaken between 1993 and 2008. These images are accompanied by significant texts by art historian and critic Jennifer A. González. The Venus Envy Series is a narrative through personal and collective feminist perspectives of the artist Amalia Mesa-Bains's life stages, from early childhood to marriage to aging. The story unfolds through a number of altar-installations using an aesthetic of vernacular abundance and accumulation done in settings of religious splendor, secret spaces of the feminine, and archaic landscapes of paradise. It is situated in a historical continuum from the present to the colonial period of European expansion into the Orient to the time of the Aztec Empire, and it ends in a reflection on health challenges leading to healing and recovery. These contemporary practices of wonder and beauty are at the same time a woman's political remembrance of conflict and joy, sorrow and loss and resilience."-- Moving Parts Press website (viewed 06/22/2022)
Artwork Details
- Title: Venus envy : chapters I-IV
- Artist: Amalia Mesa-Bains (American, born Santa Clara, California 1943)
- Date: 2022
- Geography: Mendocino, CA
- Dimensions: 30 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; Height: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm)
- Object Number: N6538.M473 V46 2022
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
1992
Pável Acevedo
2022
Allison Milham
2022
Christopher Weimann
1980
Hiromi Paper International Inc.
ca. 1990
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.