Live Forever Elizabeth Peyton press release August

Press release July 2009
Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton
18 October 2009 – 21 March 2010
Democrats are more beautiful (after Jonathan Horowitz), 2001
The Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting the first comprehensive retrospective of
Elizabeth Peyton’s oeuvre
oe uvre on the European mainland, which comprises over 90 works
(paintings, watercolours, drawings and lithos) from the past 18 years (1991-2009).
From her first portraits of 19th-century heroes to her more recent works, peopled with
friends from the world of
of music, fashion and literature,
literature Elizabeth Peyton has
presented herself as a contemporary ‘painter of modern life’, in the words of Charles
Baudelaire. Peyton’s miniature portraits capture the spirit of the times in an artistic
language that unmistakeably reflects late 20th-century urban sensitivity.
Hotel, 1966 (John Lennon), 1996 - Eugène Delacroix, 1842, 2005 - Ben Drawing, 2001 - Georgia O’Keeffe after Stieglitz 1918, 2006
The exhibition starts with portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte, pop icons Sid Vicious and
Kurt Cobain,
Cobain and fashion designer Marc Jacobs,
Jacobs and shows a development towards an
increasing eclecticism and anachronism in Peyton’s choices of subject, ranging from her
personal circle of friends to admired predecessors from the history of art, such as
Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo.
Kahlo Peyton’s intimate portraits often appear unrealistic,
compared to the public star status of many of her models. Peyton makes them small –
both literally and figuratively – in order to visualise a more genuine beauty.
beauty
Elizabeth Peyton belongs to a select group of artists who developed a unique mix of
realism and conceptualism in their work in the early 1990’s, in which Peyton
consciously reverted to narrative figurative techniques in contemporary painting
painting.
ng
Her work pays tribute to the 19th-century French modernist painting of Gros up to
Manet, and is directly reminiscent of the work of David Hockney, Alex Katz and Andy
Warhol – particularly their celebrity portraits. Peyton’s dedication to reviving a new sort
of popular art that attempts to forge a link between art and life is authentic, and her
work is pervaded with the times we live in. In her work, which is small in size but makes
a large gesture, Peyton has breathed new life into the ancient genre of portrait
painting.
painting
In collaboration with the New Museum, New York, and Phaidon, a catalogue has been
published: Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton,
Peyton containing a broad selection of works, photos
and source material by the artist. The catalogue is available from the museum shop.
Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton has been organised by the New Museum, New York. The
general sponsor of the exhibition is Banana Republic. The main patron of the exhibition
is the Turing Foundation. The Belgian radio broadcasting corporation Klara is the
exhibition’s media partner.
NOTE FOR THE PRESS: For more info, please contact the press department (Tues(Tues-Fri),
Avenue Céramique 250, Postbus 1735, 6201 BS Maastricht. Tel. +31 43 329 01 10, fax +31 43
329 01 99, Guillemette
Guillemette Naessens / Roel Visser: [email protected]