Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Michelle Grabner
(American, born 1962)
Date2016
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 56 1/2 × 26 1/2 × 16 in. (143.5 × 67.3 × 40.6 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, William G. Roehrick '34 Art Acquisition and Preservation Fund
Object number2017.5
On view
DescriptionThis untitled bronze by the artist Michelle Grabner belongs to a series of sculptures cast from hand-crocheted and hand-knitted blankets the artist has collected over the years, which have previously served as inspiration for some of the minimalist, seemingly abstract patterns that appear in her paintings. Through the casting process, the material loses its softness and comfort; at the same time, the domestic object is monumentalized. Although Grabner’s technique would allow for the production of multiples in an edition, she rejects this possibility, creating unique sculptures that reflect the handmade quality of the originals. Grabner thus celebrates the role of the blanket’s maker: most likely a woman, probably a mother, an aunt, or a grandmother. In addition, evidence of the artist’s body and gestures remain in the curved shape of the bronze sculpture, which is forever suspended from her absent hands. In her paintings and sculptures, Grabner addresses women’s work and materiality as primary themes. She has also investigated aspects of suburbia, including American football, and routine domestic activities, such as baking. In 2014, Grabner, who currently serves as the Crown Family Professor of Painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, became the first practicing artist to curate the Whitney Biennial in the eighty-plus years of that prestigious New York exhibition’s existence. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)
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. 138, illus.).
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. 138, illus.).
Provenance
2017: Hamilton College (Ruth & Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by purchase from James Cohan Gallery.
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. 298.
Wendy Red Star
Date: 2016
Medium: Lithograph with inkjet print
Object number: 2016.18
Jeffrey Gibson
Date: 2015
Medium: Glass and plastic beads, tin cones, steel and brass studs, nylon fringe, and artificial sinew on repurposed wool army blanket, mounted on repurposed canvas punching bag with steel chain
Object number: 2016.5
Mel Bochner
Date: 1990
Medium: Screenprint
Object number: 2003.12.1.4
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: first offered 1845
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.34
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: first cast 1857
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.14
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: c. 1895 (first cast c. 1860)
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.17
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: modeled c. 1832
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.21
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: first cast 1857
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.26
Antoine-Louis Barye
Date: first cast c. 1874
Medium: Bronze
Object number: 1994.32