Untitled by Peter Campus

Untitled 1978

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photography, gelatin-silver-print

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portrait

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self-portrait

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conceptual-art

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portrait

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photography

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black and white

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gelatin-silver-print

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modernism

Dimensions: image: 8.8 x 11.4 cm (3 7/16 x 4 1/2 in.) mount: 8.9 x 11.4 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)

Copyright: National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0

Editor: Here we have Peter Campus’s “Untitled” photograph from 1978, a gelatin-silver print. It's strikingly intimate, a very close-up self-portrait, I think, but there's something unsettling about the hand obscuring the face. What symbols or readings do you draw from it? Curator: Indeed, the obscuring hand is potent. Think of hands in art history - blessing, labor, supplication. Here, it veils, it hides. Do you get a sense of why? What historical understanding of identity in art might be helpful? Editor: I'm guessing this comes down to the gaze. The single visible eye stares right at you, and I’m tempted to read some idea about hiding as a reaction to being perceived… Curator: Exactly. In the '70s, conceptual artists deeply questioned representation. Is this merely a portrait, or an interrogation of self-perception? The partial obscuration reminds me of mourning veils – another cultural symbol. It creates both revelation and concealment. Does this remind you of any classic artworks or popular motifs? Editor: It has echoes of photography about trauma – but I'm wondering why make that connection? The picture is very cool in its aesthetic approach. I am missing something about historical self-expression! Curator: Let’s not disregard your intuition! Consider the psychological implications: fragmented identity, the desire to control one’s image in a world increasingly mediated. It speaks to deeper, possibly hidden, anxieties. So trauma resonates, as a symbol and as lived experience. Editor: So, it's both about the self being fractured by observation, and by personal, hidden anxieties and experience – a duality reflected in light and dark. It's more complicated than I first assumed! Curator: Precisely. Visual symbols rarely hold singular meanings. It is through these multiple layers of meaning we see the artist struggling with historical, cultural, and emotional symbols.

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