Bordowitz, Gregg, author.

Glenn Ligon, Untitled (I am a man) / Gregg Bordowitz.

London : Afterall Books, 2018.
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press
©2018

1 online resource (96 pages) : illustrations (some color)

One work series

The iconic work Untitled (I Am a Man) (1988) by the important contemporary American artist Glenn Ligon is a quotation, an appropriated text turned into an artifact. The National Gallery of Art in Washington presents the work as a "representation--a signifier--of the actual signs carried by 1,300 striking African American sanitation workers in Memphis, made famous by Ernest Withers' 1968 photographs." In this illustrated study of the work, Gregg Bordowitz takes the National Gallery's presentation as his starting point, considering the museum's juxtaposition of Untitled (I Am a Man) and the ca. 1935 sculpture, Schoolteacher, by William Edmondson, and the relation of the two terms, "markers" and "signs." After closely examining the canvas itself, its textures, brushwork, and structure, Bordowitz presents a theoretical framework that draws on the work of American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and his theory of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness. He makes a case for Thirdness as a function, operation, or law of meaning-making, not limited by the gender, age, ethnicity, race, class, or personal history of the viewer. Bordowitz goes on to examine Ligon's work in terms of the representation of self, race, and gender, focusing on three series: Profile Series (1990-91), Narratives, and Runaways (both 1993). He cites such historical figures as Sojourner Truth and her famous 1851 speech, "Ain't I a Woman?" as well as influences ranging from Bo Diddley's 1955 song, "I'm a Man" to the cultural theories of Stuart Hall

9781846381959 (electronic bk.)
1846381959 (electronic bk.)
9781846381942 (paperback (e-book)
1846381940
1846381924
9781846381928
9781846381935 (ebook)
1846381932

Ligon, Glenn, 1960- Untitled (I am a man)
Art, American 20th century Criticism and interpretation.
African American artists Criticism and interpretation.
Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tenn., 1968 History Pictorial works.
African Americans Civil rights History 20th century Pictorial works.
Strikes and lockouts History Pictorial works.
African Americans Social conditions History Pictorial works.
Race riots United States History Pictorial works.
African Americans in art Pictorial works.
Art, American 21st century Criticism and interpretation.
African Americans Social conditions Pictorial works.
Art History.
Art américain 21e siècle Critique et interprétation.
Art américain 20e siècle Critique et interprétation.
Artistes noirs américains Critique et interprétation.
Grève des éboueurs, Memphis, Tenn., 1968 Histoire Ouvrages illustrés.
Noirs américains Droits Histoire 20e siècle Ouvrages illustrés.
Grèves et lock-out Histoire Ouvrages illustrés.
Noirs américains Conditions sociales Ouvrages illustrés.
Émeutes raciales États-Unis Histoire Ouvrages illustrés.
Noirs américains dans l'art Ouvrages illustrés.
Art Histoire.
art history.
ART General.
ART History General.
Strikes and lockouts
Race riots
African Americans Social conditions
African Americans in art
African Americans Civil rights
African American artists
Art, American
United States
Tennessee Memphis
Blackness
Painting

Electronic books.
Pictorial works
History
Criticism, interpretation, etc.

One work.

Untitled (I am a man)
I am a man