Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden
Text by Leontine Coelewij, Colm Toibin. Interview by Theodora Vischer
Marlene Dumas is one of the most prominent and influential painters working today. In an era dominated by the mass media and a proliferation of images, her work is a testament to the meaning and potency of painting. Dumas draws on her expansive visual archive and the nuances of language to create intense, psychologically charged works which explore themes such as sexuality, love, death, and guilt, often referencing art history and current affairs. Her paintings and drawings are characterized by their extraordinary expressiveness and sometimes controversial subject matter. This fully illustrated exhibition catalogue accompanies a major exhibition at the Tate Modern, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Fondation Beyeler. Surveying the artist’s oeuvre from the mid-70s to the present, it features over 100 of her most important paintings and drawings alongside lesser-known works from the early period of her career. The Image as Burden also includes a new interview with the artist; extracts from previously published but lesser-known texts (some available in English for the first time); and a new short story from prize-winning author Colm Tóibín written in response to the paintings. Essays and texts from a wide range of contributors examine the key themes and motifs in her work and reflect on Dumas’s entire career.
Publisher: D.A.P. / Tate
Artists: Marlene Dumas
Contributors: Leontine Coelewij, Colm Toibin, Theodora Vischer
Designer: Roger Willems
Printer: Die Keure, Belgium
Publication Date: 2014
Binding: Softcover
Dimensions: 9 1/4 x 12 in (23.5 x 30.5 cm)
Pages: 196
Reproductions: 200 color
ISBN: 9781938922541
Retail: $45 US & Canada | £32 | €40
Status: Not Available
Marlene Dumas
Widely regarded as one of the most influential painters working today, Marlene Dumas has continuously explored the complex range of human emotions, often probing questions of gender, race, sexuality, and economic inequality. Through her focus on the human figure, Dumas merges socio-political themes with personal experience and art-historical antecedents to create a unique perspective on the most salient and controversial issues facing contemporary society. Her work consistently explores constructions of identity and the fluid distinctions between the public and the private.