FILTER RESULTS
by Century
by Century
by Object Type
Homage to F.K. #2
200442 7/16 x 32 7/16 in. (107.8 x 82.4 cm)
Lesley Dill
United States
Object Type:
Mixed Media
Medium and Support:
Ink and thread on tea-stained linen
Credit Line:
Gift of the Gallery Council
Accession Number:
2004.2
Location: Not currently on view
In Homage to F.K.#2, Lesley Dill was inspired by two creative and enigmatic artists: Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954) and American poet Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886). With cloth and thread, Dill recreated Kahlo’s bitter self-portrait in which Kahlo depicted herself after cutting off her hair in anger to punish her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera. On layers of tea-stained linen, Dill applied lines from a 19th century poem by Emily Dickinson, whose words hit the artist “emotionally, like a thunderbolt” upon first reading the book of poetry she received on her birthday from her mother:
You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --
You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor –
While Kahlo and Dickinson were women who were clearly passionate about their art, Homage is layered with ambiguities. The flowing threads suggest hair as well as fire and water; the delicate feminine stitchery delineates a woman known to have been bisexual, whose self-portrait is decidedly masculine.
[Gallery label text, 2004]
You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --
You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor –
While Kahlo and Dickinson were women who were clearly passionate about their art, Homage is layered with ambiguities. The flowing threads suggest hair as well as fire and water; the delicate feminine stitchery delineates a woman known to have been bisexual, whose self-portrait is decidedly masculine.
[Gallery label text, 2004]
Additional Images
Click an image to view a larger version
Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- The Power of the Female Gaze 5/19/2017 - 8/13/2017
- 1940/2020: In Celebration of the 80th Anniversary of the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery 7/31/2020 - 10/11/2020
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- MAGazine. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- City Newspaper. Rochester, NY
Portfolio List
Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio
This object is a member of the following portfolios: