Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow)
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Object Label
Lourdes Grobet was an art student in England in 1977 when she challenged divisions between painting and photography by using her camera to document local landscapes she dramatically altered with colorful house paint. Her professor failed her, and her Derbyshire neighbors called the police. In 1982 and 1983, still inspired, Grobet returned to this concept, siting her experiments across her Mexican homeland in Morelos, Michoacán, and Oaxaca.
Caption
Lourdes Grobet Mexican, 1940–2022. Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow), ca. 1986. Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm) sheet: 8 x 9 3/4 in. (20.3 x 24.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.12. © artist or artist's estate
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow)
Date
ca. 1986
Medium
Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome)
Classification
Dimensions
image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm) sheet: 8 x 9 3/4 in. (20.3 x 24.8 cm)
Signatures
Signed on lower right recto of mat: "M.L. Grobet"
Credit Line
Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer
Accession Number
1990.119.12
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
What is the significance of using house paint?
Lourdes Grobet's use of house paint signifies her role in the anti-academicism trend in Mexico at the time.She rejected the style of the Old Masters, and instead focused on art as a means of expression and personal language.Deciding to work with house paint instead of artist's paint was unusual and unacceptable within historic conventions, and was a move away from (and against) academic art. In her words, "...schools are the same everywhere: they lay down rules that I wasn't prepared to follow."Did she paint directly onto trees and cactuses?
She did! She would go out into the fields (sometimes with her children) and paint!She started doing this as a student in England, and when she returned home to Mexico, she said, "After my experience in England, I was curious to see what the Mexican landscape would look like if I painted it."Wow. That is subversive! Thank you for all the great information.What is the significance of using house paint?
Lourdes Grobet uses house paint, an every-day, almost industrial, material as a deliberate rejection of the rules of academic fine art that she felt were too narrow. She felt that the strict, formal rules and traditions were "outdated."She chose this "unacceptable" material as a means to develop a unique and personal language.
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