Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave

Dec 14, 2008–Feb 16, 2009

MoMA

Marlene Dumas. Jen. 2005. Oil on canvas, 43 3/8 × 51 1/4″. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fractional and promised gift of Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis. © 2008 Marlene Dumas
  • MoMA, Floor 3, Exhibition Galleries The Paul J. Sachs Drawings Galleries
  • MoMA, Floor 6, Exhibition Galleries The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Gallery

This exhibition of the work of the acclaimed painter Marlene Dumas, the first of its scale to be mounted in the United States, is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in association with The Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition includes approximately seventy paintings and thirty-five drawings, providing a comprehensive examination of the work of one of the most thought-provoking and fascinating artists working today. The exhibition opens with Dumas’s earliest mature works from the late 1970s. While loosely chronological, it will also reflect Dumas’s tendency to work in series, with key paintings grouped together. Through her focus on the human figure, Dumas merges themes of race, sexuality, and social identity with personal experience and art-historical antecedents to create a unique perspective on important and controversial issues of the day. The exhibition provides an opportunity to trace these themes over the course of the artist’s career, and also provides access to paintings and drawings of extraordinary technical quality. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in association with The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The presentation of the exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art is made possible by Joan Tisch.

Generous support is provided by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley and the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.

Additional support is provided by David Teiger, Donald L. Bryant, Jr., The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and The Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.

MOCA’s presentation is made possible is made possible by generous support from Brenda R. Potter and Michael C. Sandler; Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam; Blake Byrne; Mark Fisch; Steve Martin; The MOCA Contemporaries; the Barbara Lee Family Foundation; the Robert Lehman Foundation; Elizabeth A. Sackler, JCF, Museum Educational Trust; Jack and Connie Tilton; Netherland-America Foundation; the Consulate General of the Netherlands, New York; Linda and Jerry Janger; Dr. S. Sanford Kornblum and Mrs. Charlene S. Kornblum; B. J. Russell Mylne; and Jerome and Ellen Stern.

Publication

  • Press release 6 pages

Artist

Installation images

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