Untitled

ExpandFavoriteView PDF

Images(3)

Artist/Maker Silvia Taccani (American, born Italy 1956)

Date1989

Medium12 Polaroid SX-70 prints mounted to mat board

DimensionsOverall: 20 × 16 1/16 in. (50.8 × 40.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of James, Class of 1980, and Georganne Garfinkel

Object number1991.218

Not on view

DescriptionIn Silvia Taccani’s methodical compositions, individual Polaroid prints, which often depict fragments of the artist’s body photographed under specific color and light conditions, form larger portraits when assembled into orderly grids. The Polaroid Corporation introduced “instant” photography in 1972 with the release of the SX-70 Land camera, named after the company’s founder, Edwin Land. Unlike traditional photographic processes, in which the camera records an image onto a negative that is subsequently printed in a darkroom onto paper, the SX-70 produces a three-inch-square packet containing the negative along with all the chemicals required to process that negative, which are activated when the camera ejects the packet, generating an image in minutes. Taccani may have been attracted to Polaroids for their particularly vivid colors or for their tactile qualities, because she has used them to build up, rather than simply to record, her compositions. This untitled work may be part of a series of cross-shaped compositions that the artist based on the traditional Christian theme of the Stations of the Cross. Here, she portrays her face at the center under a just-visible crown of thorns, surrounded by images of her forearms bound by a rope at the wrists. Taccani’s work addresses not only religious topics but also broader issues of gender and identity. James Garfinkel, Class of 1980; his late brother, David Garfinkel, Class of 1978; and their father, Barry Garfinkel, have played an extraordinary role in shaping Hamilton’s photography collection. Taccani’s work, donated in 1991, is one of more than thirty given to the College by James and his wife, Georganne. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)

Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 112, illus.);

2007
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Highlights from the Permanent Collection," February 19 - April 15, 2007(no catalog).

Provenance 1991: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of James and Georganne Garfinkel.

Markings None noted.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 246.

Signature Signed and dated "© Silvia Taccani 1989" on mat at lower right in pencil.

Inscribed "#130-1989" on mat at lower left in pencil.