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Laudanum

Tracey Moffatt

Contemporary Art

These images belong to the Australian artist Tracey Moffatt’s nineteen-piece Laudanum, a series of photogravures embracing a turn-of-the-twentieth-century aesthetic in costume, character, setting, and medium. The title refers to a pain reliever and sedative commonly used in the nineteenth century. The medium, a combination of photography and etching, was likewise popular during this time. The narrative depicts the highly charged relationship between a white mistress and an Aboriginal servant involved in a sensual power struggle in which their roles often reverse.
MEDIUM Photogravure
DATES 1998
DIMENSIONS sheet: 30 1/8 x 22 3/4 in. (76.5 x 57.8 cm) image: 19 3/16 x 14 7/8 in. (48.7 x 37.8 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed and dated lower right in graphite: "Tracey Moffatt '98"
INSCRIPTIONS Each print is inscribed lower center in graphite: "Laudanum"
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 1999.80.17
CREDIT LINE Alfred T. White Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Tracey Moffatt (Australian, born 1960). Laudanum, 1998. Photogravure, sheet: 30 1/8 x 22 3/4 in. (76.5 x 57.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. White Fund, 1999.80.17. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1999.80.17_PS1.jpg)
EDITION Edition: 29/60
IMAGE overall, 1999.80.17_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT © Tracey Moffat. Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
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