Skip to search
Skip to main content
Catalog
Help
Feedback
Your Account
Library Account
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Search History
Search in
Keyword
Title (keyword)
Author (keyword)
Subject (keyword)
Title starts with
Subject (browse)
Author (browse)
Author (sorted by title)
Call number (browse)
search for
Search
Advanced Search
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Princeton University Library Catalog
Start over
Cite
Send
to
SMS
Email
EndNote
RefWorks
RIS
Printer
Bookmark
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (I am a man) / Gregg Bordowitz.
Author
Bordowitz, Gregg
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
London : Afterall Books, [2018]
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press
©2018
Description
96 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 21 cm
Availability
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Marquand Library - Remote Storage (ReCAP): Marquand Library Use Only
N6537.L535 A78 2018
Browse related items
Request
Details
Subject(s)
Art, American
—
20th century
—
Criticism and interpretation
[Browse]
African American artists
—
Criticism and interpretation
[Browse]
Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tenn., 1968
—
History
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
African Americans
—
Civil rights
—
History
—
20th century
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
Strikes and lockouts
—
History
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
African Americans
—
Social conditions
—
History
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
Race riots
—
United States
—
History
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
African Americans in art
—
Pictorial works
[Browse]
Art, American
—
21st century
—
Criticism and interpretation
[Browse]
Ligon, Glenn 1960-
—
Untitled (I am a man)
[Browse]
Library of Congress genre(s)
Art criticism
[Browse]
Series
One work
[More in this series]
One work series
[More in this series]
Summary note
The iconic work Untitled (I Am a Man) (1988) by the important contemporary American artist Glenn Ligon is a quotation, an appropriated text turned into an artifact. The National Gallery of Art in Washington presents the work as a "representation--a signifier--of the actual signs carried by 1,300 striking African American sanitation workers in Memphis, made famous by Ernest Withers' 1968 photographs." In this illustrated study of the work, Gregg Bordowitz takes the National Gallery's presentation as his starting point, considering the museum's juxtaposition of Untitled (I Am a Man) and the ca. 1935 sculpture, Schoolteacher, by William Edmondson, and the relation of the two terms, "markers" and "signs." After closely examining the canvas itself, its textures, brushwork, and structure, Bordowitz presents a theoretical framework that draws on the work of American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and his theory of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness. He makes a case for Thirdness as a function, operation, or law of meaning-making, not limited by the gender, age, ethnicity, race, class, or personal history of the viewer. Bordowitz goes on to examine Ligon's work in terms of the representation of self, race, and gender, focusing on three series: Profile Series (1990-91), Narratives, and Runaways (both 1993). He cites such historical figures as Sojourner Truth and her famous 1851 speech, "Ain't I a Woman?" as well as influences ranging from Bo Diddley's 1955 song, "I'm a Man" to the cultural theories of Stuart Hall
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents
Surface
Leap
Law
Non sequitur
Coalescence
Trump
Copies
Return
Remembrance
Conclusion
Appendix
Endnotes.
Show 9 more Contents items
Other title(s)
Untitled (I am a man)
I am a man
ISBN
1846381924 ((paperback))
9781846381928 ((paperback))
LCCN
2017473637
OCLC
1004577767
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
Read more...
Other views
Staff view
Ask a Question
Suggest a Correction
Report Harmful Language
Supplementary Information
Other versions
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (I am a man) / Gregg Bordowitz.
id
SCSB-9031683