Agony in the Garden
Miriam Schapiro
Contemporary Art
This large-scale painting is one in an ongoing Collaboration series begun in the mid-1970s, in which Schapiro dialogues with and pays homage to famous women artists, in this instance Frida Kahlo, whose self-portrait The Broken Column, 1944, is reproduced in the center. Schapiro is a pioneering feminist artist who, with Judy Chicago, founded the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts in 1971, the first program of its kind to encourage women to make art from their personal experiences. A leader in the Pattern and Decoration movement, Schapiro is known for her “femmages,” or collage paintings, which aim to reclaim traditional handicrafts associated with women’s work, such as embroidery and sewing. Stylistically this painting mimics the look of a collage, recalling Schapiro’s long-standing commitment to the belief that decorative elements and women’s work are viable artistic means to express female experience, having both political and subversive potential.
MEDIUM
Acrylic on canvas with glitter
DATES
1991
DIMENSIONS
90 3/16 x 72 3/16 x 2 in. (229.1 x 183.4 x 5.1 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed recto: "M. Schapiro '91" to the right of Frida Kahlo's right thumb and signed and dated on verso left center
COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
1991.112
CREDIT LINE
Purchase gift of Harry Kahn
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Miriam Schapiro (American, 1923–2015). Agony in the Garden, 1991. Acrylic on canvas with glitter, 90 3/16 x 72 3/16 x 2 in. (229.1 x 183.4 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Harry Kahn, 1991.112. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.112_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1991.112_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© Miriam Schapiro
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