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 OnlyN6537.L535 A78 2018 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Library of Congress genre(s)
    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.
    Other title(s)
    • Untitled (I am a man)
    • I am a man
    ISBN
    • 1846381924 ((paperback))
    • 9781846381928 ((paperback))
    LCCN
    2017473637
    OCLC
    1004577767
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