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Face Forward

Past viewing_room
1 February - 11 April 2021
  • Face Forward

    Curated by Daniel Strong

  • How many faces

    — other than your own in the mirror —

    have you laid eyes on in 2021?

  •  

     

     

    It's time for a fresh perspective.

       

        

  • Face Forward

  •  

     

     

    The Grinnell College Museum of Art is pleased to present Face Forward, an opportunity to focus on the diversity of portraiture and figurative works in our collection, and also to feature new acquisitions that you have not seen on campus before.

     

     

     

  •  

    "The face means identity, truth, feeling, beauty, authenticity, humanity."

     

     

     In her 2020 book, Stranger Faces — more specifically, in her introduction, titled "Look at Me" (a perfect springboard for an exhibition of portraiture) — Namwali Serpell describes the face as "fundamental to how we understand ourselves. The face means identity, truth, feeling, beauty, authenticity, humanity." (She specifies that her work is focused on faces of the human animal, not other animals.) As each of us is an individual with our own thoughts and opinions — the unique workings in the mysterious realm behind our own face — the faces we encounter invariably strike each of us at different points along the limitless spectrum of each of those phenomena. It's a fool's errand to either pose or attempt to answer questions like "what is 'truth'?" or "what is 'beauty'?" It is not so pointless, however, to ponder the questions more personally: what are such things to you? How is your answer to such conundra affected when viewing an art exhibition, in which identity, truth, feeling, beauty, authenticity, and humanity have been filtered for your consideration through the perceptions, actions and productions of artists?

     

     

  • Out of one, many.

    According to Serpell, the face that satisfies all criteria for identity, truth, feeling, beauty, authenticity, and humanity might be called the Ideal Face (or, to more pragmatic eyes, the Generic Face), which of course, does not exist in reality. Forsaking the ideal generic for the idiosyncratic particular, the artists assembled here provide an example of a richness and diversity that may inspire us to deeper understanding, even empathy, for the lives behind the faces we encounter even among those we will never know more fully. What we give up in the definitive we gain in the additive, the inconclusive, even the fugitive. Full frontal, side eye, or a parting glance: Out of one, many.

  • However you might define beauty, definitions are not required. One of the many beauties of admission to the Grinnell College...

    However you might define beauty, definitions are not required.

    One of the many beauties of admission to the Grinnell College Museum of Art is that, while works of art pose many questions, we don't require you to answer any of them as a price of admission. In fact, we don't charge a price of admission.

     

    We're all experiencing one of the most harrowing times in our collective memory. While some of us may be eager for a critic's or a philosopher's challenge, others of us are seeking simpler pleasures: comfort, respite, renewal, or the chance to return the gaze of a sympathetic face.

     

    These artists and their remarkable portraits are here for you.

     

    Daniel Strong

    Associate Director and Curator of Exhibitions

  • Installation view of the exhibition
  • Installation view of the exhibition
  • Installation view of the exhibition
  • Installation view of the exhibition
  • Works in the Exhibition

    • Max Beckmann Silbsbildnis (Self-Portrait), 1918

      Max Beckmann

      Silbsbildnis (Self-Portrait), 1918

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    • Charles Bierk Jonas II, 2014

      Charles Bierk

      Jonas II, 2014

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    • Charles Bierk Tau, 2017

      Charles Bierk

      Tau, 2017

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    • Chuck Close Lucas/Rug, 1993

      Chuck Close

      Lucas/Rug, 1993

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    • Lovis Corinth Freude am Leben (Joys of Life), 1920

      Lovis Corinth

      Freude am Leben (Joys of Life), 1920

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    • Lovis Corinth Selbstbildnis mit Gattin (Self-Portrait with Wife), 1904

      Lovis Corinth

      Selbstbildnis mit Gattin (Self-Portrait with Wife), 1904

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    • Lovis Corinth Verschiedene Kopfe und Selbstbildnis (Various Heads and Self-Portrait), 1915

      Lovis Corinth

      Verschiedene Kopfe und Selbstbildnis (Various Heads and Self-Portrait), 1915

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    • Marcel Dzama Citizens of Regimentation, 2004

      Marcel Dzama

      Citizens of Regimentation, 2004

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    • Marcel Dzama The Movement, 2004

      Marcel Dzama

      The Movement, 2004

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    • Till Freiwald Untitled, 2001

      Till Freiwald

      Untitled, 2001

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    • Hope Gangloff Future Bitches, 2017

      Hope Gangloff

      Future Bitches, 2017

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    • James Gobel Now is Enough, 2011

      James Gobel

      Now is Enough, 2011

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    • Charles Frederick Goldie Maori Woman, 1904

      Charles Frederick Goldie

      Maori Woman, 1904

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    • Prince Gyasi Projection, 2019

      Prince Gyasi

      Projection, 2019

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    • Oskar Kokoschka Ivar von Lucken, 1918

      Oskar Kokoschka

      Ivar von Lucken, 1918

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    • Oskar Kokoschka Selbstbildnis (Brustbild mit Zeichenstift) (Self-Portrait [Half-Length with Drawing Crayon]), 1914

      Oskar Kokoschka

      Selbstbildnis (Brustbild mit Zeichenstift) (Self-Portrait [Half-Length with Drawing Crayon]), 1914

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    • Jacob Lawrence General Toussaint L'Ouverture, 1986

      Jacob Lawrence

      General Toussaint L'Ouverture, 1986

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    • Hung Liu Black Madonna, 2015

      Hung Liu

      Black Madonna, 2015

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    • Loretta Lux Milo 2, 2004

      Loretta Lux

      Milo 2, 2004

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    • Aïda Muluneh I in the Other, 2017

      Aïda Muluneh

      I in the Other, 2017

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    • Aïda Muluneh The Other Woman, 2017

      Aïda Muluneh

      The Other Woman, 2017

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    • Aïda Muluneh The Resilience of Beauty, 2017

      Aïda Muluneh

      The Resilience of Beauty, 2017

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    • Aïda Muluneh The Sacred Memory of the Divine, 2017

      Aïda Muluneh

      The Sacred Memory of the Divine, 2017

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    • Jean-Marc Nattier La Duchesse d'Estissac, 1742

      Jean-Marc Nattier

      La Duchesse d'Estissac, 1742

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    • Alice Neel Portrait of Helen, ca. 1960

      Alice Neel

      Portrait of Helen, ca. 1960

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    • Catherine Opie Bo, 1994

      Catherine Opie

      Bo, 1994

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    • Gordon Parks Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

      Gordon Parks

      Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

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    • Gordon Parks Eldridge Cleaver and His Wife, Kathleen, Algiers, Algeria, 1970

      Gordon Parks

      Eldridge Cleaver and His Wife, Kathleen, Algiers, Algeria, 1970

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    • Gordon Parks Ethel Sharriff, Chicago, Illinois, 1963

      Gordon Parks

      Ethel Sharriff, Chicago, Illinois, 1963

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    • Gordon Parks Malcom X at Rally, Chicago, Illinois, 1963

      Gordon Parks

      Malcom X at Rally, Chicago, Illinois, 1963

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    • Jorma Puranen Shadows, reflections and all that sort of thing, #24, 2003

      Jorma Puranen

      Shadows, reflections and all that sort of thing, #24, 2003

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    • Paul Mpagi Sepuya Darkroom Mirror Study, or Aperture, 2017

      Paul Mpagi Sepuya

      Darkroom Mirror Study, or Aperture, 2017

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    • Alec Soth Keni, New Orleans, 2018

      Alec Soth

      Keni, New Orleans, 2018

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    • Angela Strassheim Untitled (Lisa), 2003

      Angela Strassheim

      Untitled (Lisa), 2003

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    • Justus Sustermans Portrait of a Lady in a Red Dress, ca. 1640

      Justus Sustermans

      Portrait of a Lady in a Red Dress, ca. 1640

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www.grinnell.edu/museum

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