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A Little Taste Outside of Love

Mickalene Thomas

Contemporary Art

Mickalene Thomas creates monumental pictures that explore and challenge the representation and objectification of women, and black women in particular. She draws inspiration from images of iconic African American women, emblems of the Black Power Movement, and her mother’s photographs from the 1970s. Here, she casts an African American woman as leading lady in an updated version of an established visual archetype—a sexualized female subject seemingly caught unaware as she reclines passively in her own beauty. In doing so, the artist turns the historic nude on its head and ousts the white European woman from the bed where she often lounges, attended by a black maidservant, in Western art.
MEDIUM Acrylic, enamel and rhinestones on wood panel
DATES 2007
DIMENSIONS Overall: 108 x 144 in. (274.3 x 365.8 cm) Other (Left section): 108 x 48 in. (274.3 x 121.9 cm) Other (Center section): 108 x 48 in. (274.3 x 121.9 cm) Other (Right section): 108 x 48 in. (274.3 x 121.9 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 2008.7a-c
CREDIT LINE Gift of Giulia Borghese and Designated Purchase Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Mickalene Thomas (American, born 1971). A Little Taste Outside of Love, 2007. Acrylic, enamel and rhinestones on wood panel, Overall: 108 x 144 in. (274.3 x 365.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Giulia Borghese and Designated Purchase Fund, 2008.7a-c. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Image courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, 2008.7a-c_design_scan.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 2008.7a-c_design_scan.jpg. Image courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © Mickalene Thomas
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