Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. oilstick and lithograph on paper, Gunhead 32723

2017.8.6

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Gunhead

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Artist

Nancy Grossman (New York City, NY, 4/28/1940 - )

Title

Gunhead

Creation Date

1975-1981

Century

late 20th century

Dimensions

19 1/2 x 26 1/4 in. (50 x 67 cm)

Object Type

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

oilstick and lithograph on paper

Credit Line

Gift of halley k harrisburg, Class of 1990, and Michael Rosenfeld

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2017.8.6

Nancy Grossman’s sculptures often take the form of heads covered in restrictive leather garments and headgear, occasionally combined with a gun mounted in front of the face. Grossman, who grew up in a family of garment workers, asserts that her choice of materials relates to issues of gender identity and trauma. These weighty themes are reflected in this drawing, which makes visible how words can be as hurtful as weapons. As she wrote: “There are times in an artist’s life when her vulnerable, internal landscape and world outside of her skin reach a kind of balance. Not a harmony, mind you, but quite the opposite.... This love is equal parts deep infatuation and rage, a personal integrity that allows a chance equilibrium between going to war in my studio as the Vietnam War hottened outside over there and politics nearly exploded over here.”