Selections from the Nasher Museum of Art
Woman of Algiers
Woman of Algiers is based on a black-and-white photograph
taken in 1960 recording the atrocities of the civil war in
Algeria. The artist, Marlene Dumas, came across the photo
in 2001, when it was published for the first time in a Dutch
newspaper. Dumas, one of the most sought-after artists in
the current art market, was born in South Africa and lives
and works in Amsterdam.
The National Liberation Front launched the Algerian War of
Independence to end French colonial rule and return control
to native Islamic Algerians. The civil war lasted from 1954
to 1962 and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths (mostly
of Algerians).
In this painting a young, unidentified nude woman is forcibly
held by two soldiers. The black censorship bars, added by
the Dutch newspaper when it published the photograph, are
reproduced by Dumas. However, she crops out most of the figures
of soldiers to prevent the viewer from identifying them as
either French or Algerian. Similarly, the cultural identity
of the woman is unknown, and we cannot be certain whether
she is a member of the National Liberation Front or a French
loyalist of European descent.
With the identities of the figures depicted obscured, the
viewer focuses on the expressive brushwork and non-naturalistic
colors that are prevalent in Dumas' work. The colors,
especially, seem to have a logic all their own, almost separate
from the description of the main figure, but their energy
and vibrancy help to convey the artist's intent.
"I hope," Dumas says, "that the painting
is different from and much more positive than its original
source," thus perhaps restoring the dignity of a victim
of war. The artist transformed the documentary photograph
into a bold work, beautifully painted and embodying the issues
she is most interested in: colonialism, racism, sexism, social
injustice, and what she calls "the geography of politics."
By giving the painting the same title as works by Eugène
Delacroix and Pablo Picasso of exotic, languid women in Oriental
dress, Dumas encourages us to think about "what has
happened to our notions of Orientalism and history painting
in this new century."
"One cannot paint the Woman of Algiers like Delacroix
or Picasso anymore. We cannot ‘use' the ‘Orient' for
our own purposes anymore without acknowledging all the things
we did not know," she says. "We struggle to expose
and to hide the mistakes/horrors we keep on repeating."
Woman of Algiers, 2001, by Marlene Dumas.
Oil on Canvas,
78 3/4 x 39 1/2 inches.
Partial and promised gift of E. Blake Byrne '57
www.nasher.duke.edu
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