Kim Abeles’ ghostly images are formed by exposing partially masked Plexiglas plates to the atmospheric pollution of downtown Los Angeles for a specified length of time. The four stencils on view in the exhibition, Artists on Artists, recreate original works in the AMAM collection that depict variations of the American landscape. Two of Abeles’ recreations, along with images of the original works, are seen here.
 

Images:
Kim Abeles (American, b. 1952)
Margaret Bourke-White’s Smokestacks, Otis Steel Company (in 20 Days of Smog), 1994
Particulate matter (smog) on Plexiglas
Ruth Roush Fund for Contemporary Art, 1994.1.1
 

Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904-1971)
Smokestacks, Otis Steel Company, 1928
Gelatin silver print
Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Photography Fund, 1991.21


Kim Abeles (American, b. 1952)
Thomas Hart Benton’s Approaching Storm (in 20 Days of Smog), 1994
Stencil print
Ruth Roush Fund for Contemporary Art, 1994.1.4
 

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975)
Approaching Storm (Noon), 1938
Lithograph
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1941.4

John Martin is known for sublime compositions with tiny figures overwhelmed by catastrophic landscapes, carefully delineated architectural structures, and a virtuoso rendering of perspective. An accomplished painter and printmaker, Martin produced more than one hundred mezzotints after his own work. The medium’s rich tonal range suited the drama of subjects like The Fall of Babylon, which he engraved after one of his most important paintings. The hand-coloring attests the mezzotints’ popularity, as it was probably added by the publisher during a later issuing to mask areas of the plate worn by earlier printings.Image:John Martin (English, 1789-1854)The Fall of Babylon, 1831Hand colored mezzotint; re-engraved lettered print Friends of Art Endowment Fund, 1974.60 
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John Martin is known for sublime compositions with tiny figures overwhelmed by catastrophic landscapes, carefully delineated architectural structures, and a virtuoso rendering of perspective. An accomplished painter and printmaker, Martin produced more than one hundred mezzotints after his own work. The medium’s rich tonal range suited the drama of subjects like The Fall of Babylon, which he engraved after one of his most important paintings. The hand-coloring attests the mezzotints’ popularity, as it was probably added by the publisher during a later issuing to mask areas of the plate worn by earlier printings.

Image:
John Martin (English, 1789-1854)
The Fall of Babylon, 1831
Hand colored mezzotint; re-engraved lettered print
 Friends of Art Endowment Fund, 1974.60 

The practice of making copies after another artist’s work has longstanding roots. During the Renaissance, artists were encouraged to copy art from antiquity, as it was believed that imitating great art was the best way to learn. This convention of studying and venerating the masters remained a staple of academic training for centuries. Artists working in non-Western modes of art-making also have a long history of looking to the ancient masters. In emulating the work of their predecessors, artists from cultures such as China and Japan learned valuable lessons about traditional techniques and style. In addition to its pedagogical function, copying also has practical purposes. Prior to the age of photo-mechanical reproduction, artists often made prints after their own or other art works for book illustration or other forms of dissemination. Francesco Bartolozzi’s print, after Benjamin West’s allegorical murals in the Queen’s Lodge at Windsor, celebrates British advancements in the arts and sciences under King George III and glorifies the Enlightenment values of reason and knowledge. On the right, a woman peers through a Newtonian reflecting telescope at the H-shaped astronomical symbol for the planet Uranus, which British astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered in 1781 using a reflecting telescope he built himself. Image:Francesco Bartolozzi (Italian, 1727-1815) [after: Benjamin West, American, 1738-1820]The Genius of Light Awakens Science and Art, 1789 Engraving with etching Friends of Art Endowment Fund, 1982.96
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The practice of making copies after another artist’s work has longstanding roots. During the Renaissance, artists were encouraged to copy art from antiquity, as it was believed that imitating great art was the best way to learn. This convention of studying and venerating the masters remained a staple of academic training for centuries. Artists working in non-Western modes of art-making also have a long history of looking to the ancient masters. In emulating the work of their predecessors, artists from cultures such as China and Japan learned valuable lessons about traditional techniques and style.

In addition to its pedagogical function, copying also has practical purposes. Prior to the age of photo-mechanical reproduction, artists often made prints after their own or other art works for book illustration or other forms of dissemination.

Francesco Bartolozzi’s print, after Benjamin West’s allegorical murals in the Queen’s Lodge at Windsor, celebrates British advancements in the arts and sciences under King George III and glorifies the Enlightenment values of reason and knowledge. On the right, a woman peers through a Newtonian reflecting telescope at the H-shaped astronomical symbol for the planet Uranus, which British astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered in 1781 using a reflecting telescope he built himself.

Image:
Francesco Bartolozzi (Italian, 1727-1815)
[after: Benjamin West, American, 1738-1820]
The Genius of Light Awakens Science and Art, 1789
Engraving with etching
Friends of Art Endowment Fund, 1982.96

While the artist is commonly present in depictions of performance art, this presence is not intended as an exploration of the self as in self-portraiture. Instead, the artist’s body serves as a catalyst for ephemeral actions, preserved only through documents and photographs. Vito Acconci captures the use of his own body as an art-making implement in Kiss Off. For this work, Acconci transferred red lipstick from his own mouth to various parts of his body, which he then pressed onto a printing stone to be transmitted to paper. The artist is thus present not only in the photographic documentation of the act, but in his body’s literal inscription in the final work.On view through July 29 in the exhibition Artists on Artists. Image:Vito Acconci (American, b. 1940)Kiss Off, 1971Lithograph Art Rental Collection Fund, RC1971.5 
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While the artist is commonly present in depictions of performance art, this presence is not intended as an exploration of the self as in self-portraiture. Instead, the artist’s body serves as a catalyst for ephemeral actions, preserved only through documents and photographs. Vito Acconci captures the use of his own body as an art-making implement in Kiss Off. For this work, Acconci transferred red lipstick from his own mouth to various parts of his body, which he then pressed onto a printing stone to be transmitted to paper. The artist is thus present not only in the photographic documentation of the act, but in his body’s literal inscription in the final work.

On view through July 29 in the exhibition Artists on Artists. 

Image:
Vito Acconci (American, b. 1940)
Kiss Off, 1971
Lithograph
 Art Rental Collection Fund, RC1971.5 

In the early 1980s, American poet Allen Ginsberg rediscovered negatives and drugstore prints he had taken over a period of 40 years and began to systematically reprint his old pictures and make new ones. As Ginsberg inscribed the snapshots directly onto the photographic paper beneath the image, the camera gradually replaced his notebooks as a way of record keeping. Louise Nevelson, New York, November 9, 1986 invites a viewing experience that oscillates between reading and looking and produces the kind of self-conscious observation Ginsberg aimed to capture and foment through his poetry or, as he famously said, “to notice what we notice.” Ginsberg’s understanding of life as sacramental informed his vision of photography as a way to preserve a fleeting moment. This photograph, taken at the first—and last—time Ginsberg met the artist and captioned sometime after her death in 1988, is a poignant and powerful portrait that both records and memorializes their meeting.Image: Allen Ginsberg (American, 1926-1997)Louise Nevelson, New York, November 9, 1986, 1986Gelatin silver print Charles Olney Fund, 2010.8 
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In the early 1980s, American poet Allen Ginsberg rediscovered negatives and drugstore prints he had taken over a period of 40 years and began to systematically reprint his old pictures and make new ones.

As Ginsberg inscribed the snapshots directly onto the photographic paper beneath the image, the camera gradually replaced his notebooks as a way of record keeping. Louise Nevelson, New York, November 9, 1986 invites a viewing experience that oscillates between reading and looking and produces the kind of self-conscious observation Ginsberg aimed to capture and foment through his poetry or, as he famously said, “to notice what we notice.” Ginsberg’s understanding of life as sacramental informed his vision of photography as a way to preserve a fleeting moment. This photograph, taken at the first—and last—time Ginsberg met the artist and captioned sometime after her death in 1988, is a poignant and powerful portrait that both records and memorializes their meeting.

Image: 
Allen Ginsberg (American, 1926-1997)
Louise Nevelson, New York, November 9, 1986, 1986
Gelatin silver print
 Charles Olney Fund, 2010.8 

Nan Goldin is an artist whose work cannot be separated from her personal experiences. She often photographed her close friends and acquaintances, and in several instances, turned the camera on herself. Her obsession with depicting the events of her subcultural lifestyle gives Goldin’s work a raw intensity and an unsettling hint towards their narratives. Her style contains an element of intimacy, coupled with the use of lush color to amplify the emotional tone of the work. In this dramatic self-portrait, the viewer is confronted with Goldin’s injuries, her expression a mixture of vulnerability and brazen presentation.Currently on view through July 29 as part of the Artists on Artists exhibition.Image:Nan Goldin (American, b. 1953)Self-Portrait after being battered, 1984Cibachrome print Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Photography Fund, 1993.4.1 
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Nan Goldin is an artist whose work cannot be separated from her personal experiences. She often photographed her close friends and acquaintances, and in several instances, turned the camera on herself. Her obsession with depicting the events of her subcultural lifestyle gives Goldin’s work a raw intensity and an unsettling hint towards their narratives. Her style contains an element of intimacy, coupled with the use of lush color to amplify the emotional tone of the work. In this dramatic self-portrait, the viewer is confronted with Goldin’s injuries, her expression a mixture of vulnerability and brazen presentation.

Currently on view through July 29 as part of the Artists on Artists exhibition.

Image:
Nan Goldin (American, b. 1953)
Self-Portrait after being battered, 1984
Cibachrome print
 Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Photography Fund, 1993.4.1 

Marc Chagall was introduced to printmaking in Berlin in 1922, at the age of thirty-five. The autobiographical portfolio My Life marked the artist’s first serious foray into printmaking, and he completed this suite of etchings within three weeks. My Life drew on Chagall’s vivid memories of his childhood in the Russian village of Vitebsk, and included images of the artist, his family, his childhood home, and his neighbors. In this self-portrait, Chagall presents himself as literally comprised of these elements of family—represented by his wife, child, and parents making up his torso—and home—symbolized by the house balancing atop his head.Artists have long turned to their own image as a subject. A means of self-exploration, self-portraiture allows artists to portray themselves according to their own wishes, sometimes focusing on their exterior likeness or on their inner personality. Self-portraits provide for more experimentation than portraits of others, since the artist has no external client to please. Many self-portraits are created as a form of self-promotion, intended to demonstrate the artist’s status and skill.From the exhibition, Artists on Artists, on view through July 29.Image: Marc Chagall (French, born in Russia, 1887–1985)Self-Portrait, no. 17 from the series Mein Leben, 1922 EtchingGift of Hazel B. King,  1951.32  
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Marc Chagall was introduced to printmaking in Berlin in 1922, at the age of thirty-five. The autobiographical portfolio My Life marked the artist’s first serious foray into printmaking, and he completed this suite of etchings within three weeks. My Life drew on Chagall’s vivid memories of his childhood in the Russian village of Vitebsk, and included images of the artist, his family, his childhood home, and his neighbors. In this self-portrait, Chagall presents himself as literally comprised of these elements of family—represented by his wife, child, and parents making up his torso—and home—symbolized by the house balancing atop his head.

Artists have long turned to their own image as a subject. A means of self-exploration, self-portraiture allows artists to portray themselves according to their own wishes, sometimes focusing on their exterior likeness or on their inner personality. Self-portraits provide for more experimentation than portraits of others, since the artist has no external client to please. Many self-portraits are created as a form of self-promotion, intended to demonstrate the artist’s status and skill.

From the exhibition, Artists on Artists, on view through July 29.

Image:

Marc Chagall (French, born in Russia, 1887–1985)
Self-Portrait, no. 17 from the series Mein Leben, 1922
Etching
Gift of Hazel B. King,  1951.32  

In his “Word Portraits,” conceptual artist Mel Bochner created poems for artist-friends such as Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, and Ad Reinhardt. Comprised of words culled from the thesaurus that Bochner deemed descriptive of each artist, the “word portraits” similarly imitate the morphological aesthetic of each subject’s art. In Portrait of Eva Hesse, Bochner’s circular motif responds to the organic forms of Hesse’s works. Image: Eva Hesse ArchivePhotograph of Mel Bochner’s “Portrait of Eva Hesse,” 1966Gelatin silver printGift of Helen Hesse Charash, 1977.52.75.26
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In his “Word Portraits,” conceptual artist Mel Bochner created poems for artist-friends such as Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, and Ad Reinhardt. Comprised of words culled from the thesaurus that Bochner deemed descriptive of each artist, the “word portraits” similarly imitate the morphological aesthetic of each subject’s art. In Portrait of Eva Hesse, Bochner’s circular motif responds to the organic forms of Hesse’s works.


Image:

Eva Hesse Archive
Photograph of Mel Bochner’s “Portrait of Eva Hesse,” 1966
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Helen Hesse Charash, 1977.52.75.26

In this playful image, mail artist Ray Johnson wittily presents abstract painters Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) and Agnes Martin (1912-2004) as a pair of fried eggs. Johnson creates a pun on each artist’s name to emphasize their rhyming qualities, changing “Reinhardt” to “Reinheart,” and “Martin” to “Heartin.”The exhibition Artists on Artists remains on view through July 29.Image:Ray Johnson (American, 1927-1995)Ad Reinheart and Agnes Heartin, 1970sCommercially-printed card with felt-tip pen Ellen H. Johnson Bequest, 1998.7.55 
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In this playful image, mail artist Ray Johnson wittily presents abstract painters Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) and Agnes Martin (1912-2004) as a pair of fried eggs. Johnson creates a pun on each artist’s name to emphasize their rhyming qualities, changing “Reinhardt” to “Reinheart,” and “Martin” to “Heartin.”

The exhibition Artists on Artists remains on view through July 29.

Image:
Ray Johnson (American, 1927-1995)
Ad Reinheart and Agnes Heartin, 1970s
Commercially-printed card with felt-tip pen
 Ellen H. Johnson Bequest, 1998.7.55 

Born in Washington, Lee Friedlander studied photography in Los Angeles, and initially earned recognition for his portraits of New Orleans jazz musicians. During the 1960s, he rediscovered the work of E.J. Bellocq, an early 20th-century New Orleans photographer, and collaborated with artist Jim Dine to produce a book of photographs and etchings, Work from the Same House (1969). Throughout his career, Friedlander has shown continual interest in the changing aspects of American culture, and his projects serve as documentation of these changes. Of his favorite subjects are portraits of his family and friends; several of these images were published in Lee Friedlander Portraits (1985).On view in the exhibition, Artists on Artists, through July 29.Image: Lee Friedlander (American, b. 1934)Jim Dine, London, 1969Gelatin silver printGift of John Coplans, 1992.4.1 
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Born in Washington, Lee Friedlander studied photography in Los Angeles, and initially earned recognition for his portraits of New Orleans jazz musicians. During the 1960s, he rediscovered the work of E.J. Bellocq, an early 20th-century New Orleans photographer, and collaborated with artist Jim Dine to produce a book of photographs and etchings, Work from the Same House (1969). Throughout his career, Friedlander has shown continual interest in the changing aspects of American culture, and his projects serve as documentation of these changes. Of his favorite subjects are portraits of his family and friends; several of these images were published in Lee Friedlander Portraits (1985).

On view in the exhibition, Artists on Artists, through July 29.

Image:

Lee Friedlander (American, b. 1934)
Jim Dine, London, 1969
Gelatin silver print
Gift of John Coplans, 1992.4.1