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Narcissus Reflected is the latest in The Fruitmarket Gallery’s
series of group exhibitions made by invited scholars, writers and artists. Its
prime mover and chief curator is David Lomas, an academic and exhibition-maker
known for his work in the fields of surrealism and contemporary art. Artists in
the exhibition include: Cecil Beaton, Bill Brandt, Claude Cahun, Jean Cocteau,
Salvador Dalí, Charles Henri Ford, Florence Henri, Jess, Yayoi Kusama, George
Minne, Pierre Molinier, George Platt Lynes, Willard Maas, Paul Nash and
Pipilotti
Rist.
Narcissus Reflected explores both Narcissus and narcissism.
Narcissus is the beautiful youth from Greek mythology, turned by the gods into
a narcissus flower as punishment for his self-obsession and inability to love
anyone other than his own reflection. Narcissism was identified by Sigmund
Freud as an early stage in his account of the formation of an individual’s
ego, at which they begin to be aware of their sexual drives and desires and
seek a love object. The first love object they choose is their own body. In a
‘normal’ individual, according to Freudian psychoanalysis, narcissism
should be only a passing
phase.
In the developing tradition of Fruitmarket Gallery group exhibitions,
Narcissus Reflected is a scholarly yet also personal, passionate, speculative
and eclectic journey into the realm of Narcissus. At its appropriately doubled
heart lies Salvador Dalí’s painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1936) and
Narkissos (1976–91) the masterwork of the San-Franciscan artist Jess.
Dalí’s painting is one of the most famous, most well-travelled and most
often reproduced works of modern art, although this exhibition offers a rare
chance to see the painting alongside the poem Dalí wrote to accompany it, and
a wealth of preparatory sketches and other
material.
Jess’s large, hand-drawn collage, by contrast, rarely leaves the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has never before traveled outside America.
This exhibition presents it together with all the material of its making –
sketches, a pin board with all the collage’s sources, and a preparatory
notebook.
Narcissus Reflected weaves a web of connections around these two
great pictures, following the thread of Narcissus through experimental film and
photography in the 1920s and 1930s and in America in the 1940s and 1950s,
winding up in the big, immersive contemporary environments of Yayoi Kusama’s
Narcissus Garden (1966) and Pippilotti Rist’s Sip My Ocean (1996). The works
in the exhibition keep in play the full variety of meanings of the myth of
Narcissus, the exhibition exploring, and seeking to explain, the enduring
appeal of the Narcissus subject in
art.
New publication, Narcissus Reflected by David Lomas,
£17.95 This major book explores the potency of the Narcissus myth in art
through a text by curator, David Lomas, which includes painting, drawing,
photography, installation, film and video. Featuring illustrations of all the
works in the exhibition, the book explores the theme further through the work
of a range of artists including Max Ernst, André Masson, Mat Collishaw and
Bill Viola, investigating the many meanings and interpretations of the myth,
and demonstrating the enduring appeal of the Narcissus theme in art.
Distributed by Reaktion Press. ISBN 978-0-947912-99-4
Notes to Editors
The Fruitmarket Gallery aims to make art accessible without
compromising art or underestimating audiences. It presents world-class,
thought-provoking and challenging exhibitions of modern and contemporary art
made by both Scottish and international artists in an environment that is
welcoming, engaging, informative and always
free.
The Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies is
a unique three-way institutional partnership between the University of Essex
and the University of Manchester, and Tate. Between them, the three
institutions comprise a highly significant concentration of expertise in the
field of surrealist studies in the UK; additionally, Tate has one of the
pre-eminent collections of surrealist and contemporary art in the world. The
Centre’s collaborative ethos offers the benefits of an expanded critical mass
of researchers in this important subject area and a strengthening of links
between academics, artists and the museum world. The Centre looks outwards, and
through its collaboration with other individuals and institutions in the UK
aims to reflect the strength of interest in surrealism across the academy, in
galleries, and among practising
artists.
David Lomas was born and brought up in Australia where he
did his first degree leading to a qualification as a medical doctor. He moved
into art history with a Master’s degree, and subsequently a PhD, at the
Courtauld Institute. Lomas was Associate Director of the AHRC Research Centre
for Studies of Surrealism and its Legacies until 2007. He co-edits the
Centre’s online journal, Papers of Surrealism, and has organised a number of
conferences and other events under the auspices of the Centre, including a
conference on the theme of experimentalism in science and avant-garde
culture.
Dawn Ades is a Fellow of the British Academy, a trustee of
Tate and was awarded an OBE in 2002 for her services to art history. She has
been responsible for some of the most important exhibitions in London and
overseas over the past thirty years, including Dada and Surrealism Reviewed,
Art in Latin America and Francis Bacon. She co-curated the popular Fruitmarket
Gallery exhibition Close-Up, Proximity and defamiliarisation in art, film
andphotography. She organised the highly successful exhibition to celebrate the
centenary of Salvador Dalí shown in Venice and Philadelphia in 2004. She has
published standard works on photomontage, Dada, Surrealism, women artists and
Mexican
muralists.
The Terra Foundation for American Art is dedicated to
fostering exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the
United States for national and international audiences. Recognising the
importance of experiencing original works of art, the foundation provides
opportunities for interaction and study, beginning with the presentation and
growth of its own art collection in Chicago. To further cross-cultural dialogue
on American art, the foundation supports and collaborates on innovative
exhibitions, research and educational programs. Implicit in such activities is
the belief that art has the potential both to distinguish cultures and to unite
them.
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The Fruitmarket Gallery is a publicly funded art gallery of national and
international significance, and is Scotland’s premier contemporary art space.
The Gallery aims to make contemporary art accessible without compromising art or
under-estimating audiences. Its programme of exhibitions of Scottish and
international artists is world-class and always
free.
The Fruitmarket Gallery is a company limited by guarantee, registered in
Scotland No. 87888 and registered as a Scottish Charity No. SC 005576. VAT No.
398 2504 21. Registered Office: 45 Market St., Edinburgh, EH1 1DF
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