Marlene Dumas, Score
Provenienza :
Exhibited :
Literature : Dumas, M. and Bedford, E. (2007). Marlene Dumas: Intimate Relations. Cape Town: Jacana Media and Amsterdam: Roma Publications, illustrated in colour on p.17.
Note : Marlene Dumas’s Score is an extraordinary painting that forges youthful passion and the principles of Classical art into a dynamic statement about life, love and art. It was inspired by the central panel of Italian Renaissance artist, Andrea Mantegna’s The Adoration of the Magi, painted around 1460 and now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Dumas remembers painting Score during her years at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, in response to an assignment by one of her lecturers — perhaps the legendary teacher and artist, Stanley Pinker, whom she greatly admired. Instructed to choose a Classical painting for its composition and to transform it, Dumas chose Renaissance master, Mantegna. Retaining the original composition, Dumas has nevertheless radically reinterpreted the original by changing the content in profound ways. An erotic body is transposed into the holy cave, and where the Virgin was surrounded by angels, the artist has kissed the canvas with her own lips coated in fuchsia and red oil paint – an activity she likens to pilgrims kissing the feet of the saints. The title SCORE inscribed in red vibrates against its complementary green in the upper right, alluding to winning the game, sexual scoring or religious fervour. Her use of the word also acknowledges art historical precedents from Kurt Schwitters, the Cubists and Jasper Johns to Pop artists Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, who are amongst artists who introduced lettering or statements in their art. Dumas is widely regarded as one of the most influential painters working today. Her engagement with art history and her experiments with representations of the sexual body have drawn keen interest worldwide. Recent exhibitions have included paintings ranging from monumental figures to intimately scaled canvases presenting details of bodily parts and facial features. EB
Condition_report : Overall condition is good. Paint is vibrant and stable. Small amounts of dry-cracking in areas. Recently cleaned and conserved. Professional condition report available on request.
