Tanya Marcuse (1964- ), Greece, Delphi Archaeological Museum from the “Museum Series”, 1993 | 

Platinum palladium print, 5 × 5 3/4 in. |

Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of the artist in honor of Eve and Abigail Romm) |

2018.15.1894 

 

Part of her “Museum Series,” Tanya Marcuse’s photograph depicts the torso of an ancient Greek sculpture that has been removed from its original site. The work has lost at least two of its limbs, and its surface is weatherworn to the point that the body’s sex is ambiguous. The small hole drilled into the crotch area was likely used to affix the sculpture to a wall. But its placement speaks the ways in which art—like the forces of nature—can distort the body. In the 1980s and 90s, many artists addressed the ways in which popular culture shapes perceptions of race, gender, and sexuality. The “Museum Series” extends this investigation to the fine arts. Like the sculptor of the original work and the museum that displayed it, Marcuse’s photograph frames the way in which the body is perceived.