In a Up to date Dialogue with the Exhibition Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents, The Met (March 10, 2022-March 5, 2023) presents works by Artists Elizabeth Colomba, Hugh Hayden, Kerry James Marshall and Kara Walker. Curated by Sylvia Yount and Stephanie Herdrich. Proven above is Elizabeth Colomba’s “Armelle.”
Armelle, a portrait of the artist’s cousin, was impressed by John Singer Sargent’s Madame X (1883–84). Armelle gazes towards a watercolor painted within the Bahamas by Winslow Homer, Underneath the Palm Tree (1885, Nationwide Gallery of Artwork). All through her artwork, Colomba facilities tales of Black girls, drawing on her intensive information of artwork historical past and her educational coaching to subvert Western notions of magnificence. As she explains: “I . . . begin from a narrative that exists and remake it in a manner that’s interesting to me, dressing the themes in a sure manner and making it extra about my roots, that are a mixture of French and Caribbean.” This work is on view in Gallery 771 of The Met’s American Wing.
Elizabeth Colomba, French painter of Martinican heritage, explains: “The sitter is Armelle, my cousin. Virginie Amélie Avegno, referred to as Madame X after her portrait by Sargent, was born in Louisiana to White creoles, a time period now utilized to people of mixed-race heritage. Her father served as a serious within the Accomplice Military through the American Civil Conflict.
The parallel between Armelle and Madame X is caustic and ironic. Each are creoles: X descends from a colonialist household; Armelle from one that might have been in bondage. Bestowing the identical pose on my mannequin, I problem stereotypes, reframing historical past to use a unique narrative for the character.”
For extra data on the opposite collaborating artists, see https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/winslow-homer/contemporary-dialogues
[Above: Elizabeth Colomba (French, b. 1976). Armelle, 1997. Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm). Private collection. © 2022 Elizabeth Colomba / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.]