Enduring Likeness
October 2, 2010 - January 2, 2011
In this exhibition, artworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century explore the double rhetoric of portraiture. There is a mode of portraiture that strives for human likeness, to make a claim for lasting memory and to stand outside of time. Works by Max Beckmann, Arshile Gorky, Jan Lievens, Andy Warhol, and others, illustrate how portraits may establish fashion, present the exemplary self, and enhance the sitter’s reputation. But Enduring Likeness also examines how portraits may advance the fame of their artists through their respective signature styles, while also reflecting well upon the portrait subject, who partook in the celebrity of the artist by association.
Counterlives, Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids, and Enduring Likeness are made possible by the William Hayes Ackland Trust, the John and Mary P. Redwine Trust, and the generosity of friends of the Ackland Art Museum.
Image Credit: Julia Margaret Cameron, British, 1815-1879; Thomas Carlyle, from Life, 1867; albumen print, 13 9/16 x 9 7/8 in. (34.4 x 25.1 cm); Ackland Fund, 71.34.4
