Catherine Opie
Angela Scheirl

Artist Catherine OpieAmerican, born 1961

CultureAmerican

Titles

Angela Scheirl

Date1993

MediumChromogenic print

DimensionsImage: 18 3/4 × 14 3/4 in. (47.6 × 37.5 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Frame (outer): 21 1/2 × 17 7/16 × 2 in. (54.6 × 44.3 × 5.1 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Object number2008.9

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Special Collections

Photographs by LGBTQ Artists

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionAll portraits entail some element of collaboration between artist and sitter. Through clothing, pose, gesture, and expression, the subject consciously or unconsciously says, “This is who I am.” In her Portraits series (1993–97), shot against plain but boldly colored backgrounds, Opie gave expression to the San Francisco queer community—not mere mainstream gay men and lesbians but rather those at the margins of the margin: the sadomasochistic leather culture, men and women heavily tattooed and pierced, and people challenging the norms of gender identity. Here, the radically transgressive artist, performer, and filmmaker Angela Scheirl, whose own work also addresses issues of sexuality and gender identity, sits confidently before the camera, ambiguously androgynous a few years before fully transitioning to a man and assuming the name Hans Scheirl.
Provenance[Regen Projects, Los Angeles]; purchased by MFAH, 2008.
Exhibition History"The Artist’s Palette: Primary Colors on Paper," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 5 March - 2 June 2013.

“History of Photography I: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1, 2014–February 22, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

No visible marks or inscriptions - framed

Printed back label: "REGEN PROJECTS / Catherine Opie / Angela Scheirl / 1993 / ... / Ed. of 8 AP 1/2 / CO 2092 / 633 NORTH ALMONT DRIVE LOS ANGELES, ... / www.regenprojects.com"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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