COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000128
image_record_id
aahi0000128
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
34 With Scars
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1991
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
José Leonilson Bezerra Dias (Brazilian, 1957-1993)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Born in Fortaleza, in the north-east of Brazil, Leonilson lived in São Paulo from early childhood until his death in 1993. His early works, from the period between 1983 and 1988, were primarily figurative paintings, largely influenced by the transavantguardia group of Italian painters active in the early 1980s, although he also made sculptures and produced drawings in pen and ink. He developed a strong personal narrative as his work progressed, incorporating images that alluded to the conflict between his gay sexuality and his Catholic heritage. He first incorporated sewing and embroidery into his works in 1989, influenced by the work of the untrained Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo do Rosario (1909-1989) as well as by Shaker work he had seen on a trip to America. After discovering he was HIV positive in 1991 and due to the subsequent decline in his health, Leonilson's painting practice waned and he began working exclusively on embroidered works. The Penelope dates from the last year of his life. Like all of Leonilson's fabric works, The Penelope is unstretched and pinned directly to the wall, lending it the appearance of a religious or political banner, although a frilled skirting at the bottom of the work, as on a decorative curtain, implies a domestic reference. The work is made up of 10 panels of various diaphanous fabrics, netting and voile, overlaid and patchworked together. The fabrics used are subtly different in colour, ranging from white to cream to pale blue, and Leonilson's hand-sewing takes the form of a large, uneven running stitch in dark embroidery thread. Along the one side of the panel, Leonilson has embroidered the title of the work and the small motif of an empty chair. The Penelope referred to in the title is the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus left Penelope to fight in the Trojan War. When, at the end of ten years of hostilities, Odysseus did not return with the other princes of Greece, she was beleaguered by suitors telling her that Odysseus was shipwrecked and begging her to remarry. Distraught, Penelope tells the men that before she can remarry, she must finish weaving a shroud for her father-in-law. Penelope works all day on her weaving, but each night she secretly unpicks her day's work so it will never be completed. In the original Portuguese title of the work, O Penelope, Leonilson has deliberately paired the masculine article, O, with the feminine noun. The artist uses this device frequently in titling his works, subverting the boundaries between male and female domains, in a way that echoes his claiming of needlework away from its traditionally female associations. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2007-10-08)
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
diseases
subject
diseases
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
illness
subject
illness
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
AIDS (Disease)
subject
AIDS (Disease)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
body, human
subject
body, human
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
death
subject
death
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
synthetic polymer paint, embroidery thread and plastic tacks on voile
Work Measurements (display):
41 cm (H) x 31 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid:
1144.2001
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid type:
accession
Work Location (Geographic) name:
New York, New York
Image Rights (display):
© Museum of Modern Art, New York. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Davis Art Images
Image Rights license agreement:
DAVIS ART IMAGES: This image is copyrighted by Davis or its sources and all interest in and to the Image and its copyrights throughout the World are retained by Davis or its sources. Your permission to use the Images is limited as provided below. You acknowledge and agree that your use of the Images, including all use by your faculty and students who are users, shall be strictly limited to educational purposes by means of display through classroom projection and closed network, for instruction and study solely by users who are staff, faculty and registered students of your educational institution at the locations specified below. This license includes permission to use the Images on a multi-user network at the defined locations, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the defined locations also is permitted. For all of these uses, you willl use reasonable security measures designed to limit access accordingly (e.g. by requiring authenticated password entry or by using other reasonable security measures to limit access). Any open access use and any publication (including scholarly publication) of the Images for any purpose, is strictly prohibited. Any request for any such use, or any other use not expressly authorized in this Agreement, must be directed to Davis in writing. You shall inform all permitted users of the copyright status of the Images and the restrictions on their use set forth in this Agreement. Your specified locations of use are: 1. University of Colorado at Boulder; 2. University of Colorado at Denvcer and Health Sciences Center (inclusing the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver which may have students on that downtown campus); 3. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Work Rights (display):
© José Leonilson Bezerra Dias
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see