New York, New York (Statue of Liberty)

Artist Tseng Kwong Chi (American, born Hong Kong, 1950 - 1990)

Date1979; printed 2016

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 15 1/16 × 15 inches (38.26 × 38.1 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.64 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2016.75.299

SignedEstate stamp on sheet verso, center, in black ink: “From the Estate of TSENG KWONG CHI © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.”; Signed on sheet verso, center, in black pen: “Muna Tseng”

InscribedOn sheet verso, center, in black pen: “silver gelatin, selenium-toned / Printed 2016 / New York, New York, 1979”

MarkingsEditioned on sheet verso, center, in black pen: “15/25”

Edition/State/Proofed. 15/25

On View

Not on view

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DescriptionImage of statue of liberty, in left half of frame, shot from below. Standing next to the statue is a man in military style dress with his left hand in his pocket. The perspecitve of the image makes the statue and the figure look to be of similar size. Both figures are set against billowy clouds in the sky.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

For his series East Meets West, Tseng Kwong Chi assumed the guise of a fictional foreign ambassador and photographed himself in front of famous cultural landmarks throughout the United States and Europe. Visible in his closed hand is the camera shutter release, a deliberate inclusion that asserts the artist’s authorship. Here, Chi is dressed in a stereotypical Chairman Mao-style worker suit and sunglasses as a self-described “ambiguous ambassador.” He explores themes of personal and cultural identity on a vast public stage via this alter-ego, one that can be read as friend or spy, man of the world, or perpetual outsider.

Provenance

Purchased from Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA, by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2016;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.

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