Study for Frankenstein #1 (Study #1)
- Date
- 1992
- Material
- Oil stick and gesso on canvas
- made in
- New York, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 243
- Dimensions
- 30 1/8 x 22 in. (76.5 x 55.9 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum Minority Artists Purchase Fund and funds given by the Contemporary Art Society
- Rights
- © Glenn Ligon, Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, New York, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, Thomas Dane Gallery, London and Chantal Crousel, Paris
- Object Number
- 70:2001
NOTES
In his paintings, Glenn Ligon reproduces literary texts that often deal with race and social invisibility. Here, Ligon quotes Mary Shelley’s 19th century novel Frankenstein, the tragic story of a human monster shunned by society because of his physical appearance. The words read: “Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again.” With an oil stick, Ligon stenciled and repeated the letters, gradually obscuring legible text into an abstraction. The artist suggests that Frankenstein’s self-identity as outsider has wider resonances relating to histories of Black marginalization and oppression.
Provenance
- early 1990s
Max Protech Gallery, New York, NY [1]
Julie and Barry Smooke, Los Angeles, CA
- 2001
D'Amelio Terras Gallery, New York, NY
2001 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from D'Amelio Terras Gallery [2]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is a letter and attached information sheet from Jordan Gutcher of D'Amelio Terras Gallery [letter, dated October 30, 2001, SLAM document files]. Exceptions and additional sources are noted.
[1] Jordan Gutcher recalls that the work was purchased from a Max Protech Gallery show in the early 1990s.
[2] Invoice from D'Amelio Terras Gallery dated September 24, 2001 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 4, 2001.
Max Protech Gallery, New York, NY [1]
Julie and Barry Smooke, Los Angeles, CA
- 2001
D'Amelio Terras Gallery, New York, NY
2001 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from D'Amelio Terras Gallery [2]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is a letter and attached information sheet from Jordan Gutcher of D'Amelio Terras Gallery [letter, dated October 30, 2001, SLAM document files]. Exceptions and additional sources are noted.
[1] Jordan Gutcher recalls that the work was purchased from a Max Protech Gallery show in the early 1990s.
[2] Invoice from D'Amelio Terras Gallery dated September 24, 2001 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 4, 2001.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.