Bruce Yonemoto
Untitled (NSEW 4)

Untitled (NSEW 4)
Untitled (NSEW 4)
Untitled (NSEW 4)
ArtistAmerican, born 1949
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Untitled (NSEW 4)
  • from the series North South East West
Date2007
MediumInkjet print
DimensionsImage: 24 × 18 in. (61 × 45.7 cm)
 Sheet: 31 × 24 in. (78.7 × 61 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Adam Rose Foundation
Object number2010.1
Not on view

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Department
Photography
Object Type
DescriptionIn his series North South East West, Bruce Yonemoto reenacts the role of soldiers of Asian descent who fought on both sides of the American Civil War. Seeking to draw attention to the systematic exclusion of people of diverse racial backgrounds from the national record, even in recent revisionist histories, he photographed Asian American male models in the poses and settings of 19th-century studio portraiture. The full Civil War regalia that they wear is rented from the oldest Hollywood collection house, Western Costume, a nod to the part that American cinema has played in shaping the identity of Asians in the United States. Yonemoto underscores this connection in his choice of backdrop, a literal green screen against which to reimagine ideals of heroism in nation building.
Provenance[Alexander Gray Associates, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2010.
Exhibition History"Photo Forum 2009," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lower Brown Corridor, September 15, 2009 - January 5, 2010.

"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
Signed in ink verso lower right: "Bruce Yonemoto 4/7"

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