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Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960). <em>The Bed</em>, 1995, reprinted 2016. Serigraph on felt, panels a-d: 35 9/16 × 22 1/16 × 3/16 in. (90.3 × 56 × 0.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift from the collection of Peggy Jacobs Bader in honor of Anne Pasternak and Lorna Simpson, 2019.3a-e (Photo: Image courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, CUR.2019.3a-e_Simpson_SeanKellyGallery_photograph.jpg)
Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960). The Bed, 1995, reprinted 2016. Serigraph on felt, panels a-d: 35 9/16 × 22 1/16 × 3/16 in. (90.3 × 56 × 0.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift from the collection of Peggy Jacobs Bader in honor of Anne Pasternak and Lorna Simpson, 2019.3a-e (Photo: Image courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, CUR.2019.3a-e_Simpson_SeanKellyGallery_photograph.jpg)
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The Bed

Lorna Simpson

Contemporary Art

Through a poetic Black feminist approach, Lorna Simpson explores the limitations of respite and retreat in this felt-based work. The photographs of empty hotel beds, framed by open doorways, capture a contradictory state of security and vulnerability, which the artist echoes in text on the adjacent panel. In suggesting, rather than representing, the body, Simpson invokes a sense of intimacy and pleasure that might be interrupted by the racialized gaze.
ARTIST Lorna Simpson, American, born 1960
MEDIUM Serigraph on felt
DATES 1995, reprinted 2016
DIMENSIONS panels a-d: 35 9/16 × 22 1/16 × 3/16 in. (90.3 × 56 × 0.5 cm) panel e: 7 1/2 × 6 × 3/16 in. (19.1 × 15.2 × 0.5 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed and titled verso
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 2019.3a-e
CREDIT LINE Gift from the collection of Peggy Jacobs Bader in honor of Anne Pasternak and Lorna Simpson
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Serigraph on four felt panels and one felt text panel.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960). The Bed, 1995, reprinted 2016. Serigraph on felt, panels a-d: 35 9/16 × 22 1/16 × 3/16 in. (90.3 × 56 × 0.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift from the collection of Peggy Jacobs Bader in honor of Anne Pasternak and Lorna Simpson, 2019.3a-e (Photo: Image courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, CUR.2019.3a-e_Simpson_SeanKellyGallery_photograph.jpg)
EDITION Edition: 4/5 (2 APs)
IMAGE overall, CUR.2019.3a-e_Simpson_SeanKellyGallery_photograph.jpg. Image courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, 2019
"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.
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Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960). <em>The Bed</em>, 1995, reprinted 2016. Serigraph on felt, panels a-d: 35 9/16 × 22 1/16 × 3/16 in. (90.3 × 56 × 0.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift from the collection of Peggy Jacobs Bader in honor of Anne Pasternak and Lorna Simpson, 2019.3a-e (Photo: Image courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, CUR.2019.3a-e_Simpson_SeanKellyGallery_photograph.jpg)

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