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Artist or Maker: Thomas Struth (B. 1954)
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Provenance: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Dr. Nadal-Ginard and Dr. Vijak Mahdavi, Boston
Ors-Doron Sebbag, Tel-Aviv
His sale; Christie's New York, 16 November 1999, lot 1
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
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Exhibited: New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Thomas Struth, February-March 1990.
Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Directions--Thomas Struth: Museum Photographs, May-August 1992.
Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Thomas Struth: Museum Photographs, November 1993-January 1994, pl 3 (illustrated; another print exhibited).
Kibbutz Hazorea, Wilfreid Israel Museum; Petach-Tikva Museum and Ashdod Museum, Quotations in Art from Michelangelo to Hitchcock, November 1997-January 1998, p. 7 (illustrated).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art and San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect, March 1999-January 2000, p. 119 (illustrated; another print exhibited).
Minneapolis, The Walker Arts Center, The Cities Collect, September 2000-January 2001.
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Literature: "The Frame of Reference: At the Hirshhorn, Struth's Watchful Photos," The Washington Post, June 10, 1992, p. B2.
V. Grosenick and B. Riemschneider, Art at the Turn of the Millenium, Cologne 1999, p. 486 (illustrated).
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Notes: Louvre IV, Paris (1989), is one of the most iconic images of Thomas Struth's celebrated series of Museum Photographs. In this series, Struth staged spectators in front of seminal paintings in major museums and then photographed the whole scene, as if he himself were a tourist. The Museum Photographs help us to see how people look at a masterwork, and how people look while looking at said masterwork.
As Struth explains: "I got the first ideas for these works in the Louvre around Christmas time; it was very crowded and I thought that the world of visitors in the Louvre, people of the most diverse ages and ethnicities, were incredibly similar to the themes in the paintings. And my other conclusion was that I wondered why all the people were there; what were they getting out of it, in their public lives, in their activity, in their family, with their friends? Is any change through the museum visit even possible, or is it an entertainment, like watching music videos or the way one needs visual refreshment to keep from getting bored." (cited in exh. cat. 1999, p. 166).
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