The Ultimate Anxiety.
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Title |
The Ultimate Anxiety. |
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Creator |
Morley, Malcolm (English painter, born 1931) |
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Date |
1978 |
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Cultural Context |
Venetian
Italian
British
English
European
Western European |
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Style/Period |
Contemporary
Postmodern |
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Subject |
Marines (Visual works)
Seascapes
Rites & ceremonies
Harbors
Ships
Boats
Sailing ships
Galleys (Ships)
Sailing
Gondolas
Rowboats
Railroad cars
Railroad locomotives
Railroad freight cars
Logos
Men
Women
Gondoliers
Reproductions |
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Description |
"Although resident in America, Morley was the first winner of the Turner Prize in 1984. Funded by the 'Patrons of New Art' affiliated to London's Tate Gallery, this prize was subsequently awarded annually for 'outstanding contributions' to British art. Conceived as an equivalent of the Booker Prize (for literature), it reflected something of the entrepreneurial spirit of 'Thatchers Britain', attracting considerable publicity to the Tate, where shortlisted artists' works were exhibited. Winners have included Damien Hirst (1995) and Gillian Wearing (1997)." (Caption, p.214); "A British-born painter who had worked in America since 1958, Morley had pioneered a form of 'photorealism' (also dubbed 'hyper-' or 'super-realism) in America in the mid-1960s, producing images such as SS Amsterdam in Front of Rotterdam (1966) which were painstakingly transposed from photographs. In the early 1970s other artists achieved critical and commercial success from related practices. Painters such as Philip Pearlstein, Chuck Close, and Richard Estes, translated the pictorial plenitude of photographs into glossy painted surfaces, densely encoded with visual information. At the same time the sculptor Duane Hanson made uncanny direct-cast replicas of live figures, painting them illusionistically and dressing them in actual clothes. […] As photorealism became fashionable, however, Morley grew frustrated with his seamless surfaces. This is dramatized in The Ultimate Anxiety (1978), in which a depiction of a train cuts incongruously across an image transposed from a postcard reproduction of a painting by the Venetian master Francesco Guardi [Departure of the Bucentaur Towards the Venice Lido on Ascension Day]. This work relates to other 'catastrophe' pictures Morley produced at this time such as The Day of the Locust (1977), in which a Pop-like replication of the cover of the Los Angeles Yellow Pages appears to be eaten away from the inside by swarms of imagery. Morley produces a refreshingly direct response to the cultural relativism of his times. But he also dramatizes the peculiar sense of dislocation which arises as different orders of representation intrude upon one another." (Excerpt, p.213) |
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Location Depicted |
Venice (Italy)
Italy |
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Material |
Oil on canvas
Oil paint (pigmented coating)
Paint
Canvas |
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Measurements |
184.2 x 248.9 cm |
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Technique |
Oil painting (technique)
Painting (image-making) |
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Inscription |
Logo on train car, center of painting: GT |
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Work Type |
Paintings
Oil paintings |
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Source |
Hopkins, David. After Modern Art: 1945-2000. Oxford History of Art. Oxford; New York: Oxford UP, 2000. (p.214, fig.109) |
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Rights |
Photograph reproduced in Hopkins courtesy: Sperone Westwater, New York. |
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Digital Publisher |
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center |
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Format |
image/jpeg |
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Digital File Name |
VRC 827-36.jpg |
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Rating |
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