Image

Previous 1 / 1 Next

Michael Mazur

Figure on a Bed, 1962-1965

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Figure on a Bed

Year

1962-1965

Medium

Lithograph on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

51.1 x 66 cm (20 1/8 x 26 inches) (sheet)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed in pencil, LL: "image destroyed, 1st state" ; LR: "Mazur." Chopmark in LR corner, Pisces within a square, mark of George Lockwood (printer).

Type

Credit

Gift of Jim Dine

Object Number

80.266.33

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Variance

February 1 - October 9, 2022

In these haunting lithographs, artist Michael Mazur uses the emotional capacity of gestural mark-making to invoke the plight of institutionalized individuals. Mazur began the series in the early 1960s, when he was volunteering at the state asylum in Cranston, Rhode Island. This institution was established by the Rhode Island legislature in 1869 as the State Asylum for the Insane and Poor.

The series title, Images from a Locked Ward, is telling. Compared to Hogarth’s print, Mazur’s lithograph presents an entirely different emotional take, highlighting the inhumanity of institutionalization. At the same time, by working from memory, Mazur captures emotion without trafficking in the suffering of identifiable individuals.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Figure on a Bed with the accession number of 80.266.33. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.