Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters

by Aimee Ng, Xavier F. Salomon, Stephen Truax

A new and stimulating way of looking at Old Master paintings with a foreword by Hanya Yanagihara, contributions by Jonathan Anderson, Jessica Bell Brown, Christopher Lew, Jason Reynolds, Legacy Russell, and Russell Tovey, and works by Jenna Gribbon, Doron Langberg, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Salman Toor. Living Queer Views and Old Masters is an exciting volume featuring the work of four New York–based artists, each presenting a single new work in conversation with celebrated paintings in The Frick Collection, with particular emphasis on issues of gender and queer identity typically excluded from narratives of early modern European art. The idea of commissioning four works to display at Frick Madison emerged when four masterpieces by Vermeer, Holbein, and Rembrandt were loaned to exhibitions. Works by Jenna Gribbon, Doron Langberg, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Salman Toor were commissioned to replace them, alongside other works by these artists. This book is the result of the four New York artists' responses to the Frick's collection, and the conversations their work engendered. Written contributions are provided by Jonathan Anderson, Jessica Bell Brown, Christopher Lew, Jason Reynolds, Legacy Russell, and Russell Tovey .

112 pages, Hardcover

Published September 19, 2023

Reviews

[caskofpbr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t usually read art books like this; this was my first in fact. Didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I’ll definitely look at museums differently now. I’d never really thought of the works as in conversation with each other, through the living making of art history. I’ve more so taken each individual piece, or pieces by an artist and examined their meaning. I’ll be in New York soon, and will definitely be visiting The Frick!