Synecdoche
1 of 2
Object Label
Since the early 1990s, Byron Kim has completed hundreds of monochromatic paintings based on the skin colors he observes during sessions with individual sitters. Displayed in a grid, each arrangement functions as both a composite abstraction and a group portrait.
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something refers to its whole. Through this allusion in the title, Kim questions the racialized ways in which skin and pigment tend to stand in for the entirety of a person’s perceived identity.
Caption
Byron Kim (American, born 1961). Synecdoche, 1991–1992. Oil on wood, each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, 2016.30.2a-l. © artist or artist's estate. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Synecdoche
Date
1991–1992
Medium
Oil on wood
Classification
Dimensions
each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg
Accession Number
2016.30.2a-l
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at