Image
Description
Maker
- Brian Shure, b. 1952, American, printer, (RISD Faculty, Printmaking)
- Andrew Raftery, b.1962, American, (RISD Faculty 1991-, Printmaking)
- Dotty Attie, b. 1938, American
- RISD Editions, publisher
Title
Year
Medium
Materials/Techniques
-
Materials
Dimensions
-
Sheet: 22.5 x 22.5 cm (8 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches)
Signature / Inscription / Marks
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On verso, in pencil: "PIP AFTER MAGRITTE 1998 DoTTY ATTIE" Recto in the margin, photolithograph typed faced: "AFTER MAGRITTE"
Identification
-
State
Printers Proof/Edition
ed. of 30 Type
Credit
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Gift of the Printmaking Department, Rhode Island School of Design
Object Number
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2000.56
About
In this print, we see two figures whose kiss is disrupted by the medical masks they are wearing. Dotty Attie was responding to the Surrealist artist René Magritte’s ambiguous painting The Lovers (1928), in which two seemingly kissing figures are depicted with their heads wrapped in white cloth. In Attie’s 1998 work, the 1950s clothing and hairstyles of the “lovers” recall an era of misogynistic gender norms. Their medical masks may invoke protection from the power dynamics at play in heterosexual romantic intimacy.
In the new context of COVID-19 and social distancing, this work now underscores the radical rupture in interpersonal relations experienced around the globe.
On verso, in pencil: "PIP AFTER MAGRITTE 1998 DoTTY ATTIE" Recto in the margin, photolithograph typed faced: "AFTER MAGRITTE"