For "The Brooklyn Museum Collection: The Play of the Unmentionable"
Entry/Object ID
2013.51
Description
Jean Jacques Rousseau quote in white seriph typeface on gray background
Artwork Details
Medium
Screenprint on paper
Acquisition
Notes
Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of Thomas C. Heagy
Made/Created
Artist
Kosuth, Joseph
Date made
1990
Ethnography
Notes
North America
United States
Inscription/Signature/Marks
Location
R: BL corner
Notes
Inscription Type: [artist signature]
Lexicon
Legacy Lexicon
Class
WORKS ON PAPER
Dimensions
Dimension Description
sheet
Width
28 in
Length
22 in
Dimension Description
frame
Width
29 in
Length
23 in
Interpretative Labels
Label
In 1990, conceptual artist and theorist Joseph Kosuth was invited by the Brooklyn Museum to curate an exhibition using works from the museum's permanent collection. The resulting project was entitled "The Brooklyn Museum Collection: The Play of the Unmentionable" and consisted in about 100 works from the collection, all of which were related to the changing nature of human values across history. The works displayed were either once revered, but are now considered objectionable (in content, form, or language), or, conversely, revered in the present despite being abhorred in their original context.
At the time, there was much debate about the public support of—or lack thereof—cultural institutions as well as the issue of censorship. By choosing to display work that
