- Back With Arms Above
Sheet: 19 7/8 × 15 15/16 in. (50.5 × 40.5 cm)
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Photographic history is filled with images of young, lithe bodies, posed elegantly for the camera, making John Coplans’s self-portraits a bit shocking. Coplans—a photo historian before he turned to art making—upended standards, posing himself honestly and awkwardly for the camera. His aging body with sagging flesh, creases, folds, and wiry body hair is extraordinarily direct. He noted, “It reveals me to myself . . . The gestures I make, and the images I capture must ring true even though they are the product of my fancies and thoughts, of my picturesque and amusing associations encoded into a personal sign language of non-verbal confessional.”
ProvenanceThe artist; purchased by Manfred Heiting, April 11, 1984; given to MFAH, 2002.
Exhibition History"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Foundation Galleries, February 21 - May 9, 2010.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Stamped in purple, verso, upper right corner: © COPYRIGHT JOHN COPLANS 1984 // NOT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION // [signed in pencil] [underlined with stamped dots]
Inscribed in pencil, verso, upper right: sp 23 84 // SELF PORTRAIT
Inscribed in pencil, verso, upper right: Back with Hands // above
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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