About the Artwork
In 1942, art patron Peggy Guggenheim invited Richard Pousette-Dart to exhibit at her New York gallery and paint a portrait of her teenage daughter Pegeen. The right half of the painting mirrors, and formally dissolves, the firmly articulated left half. Pegeen's pony-tailed profile teems with biological activity even as it competes with the unmistakable presence of African sculpture: a Senufo face mask, a Kota reliquary figure, and a Bamana antelope can be seen in the painting's textured surface. Eyes abound as symbols of the young girl's curiosity.
Portrait of Pegeen
between 1942 and 1943
Richard Pousette-Dart
1916-1992
American
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Oil on linen
Unframed: 50 × 52 inches (127 × 132.1 cm) Framed: 50 3/4 × 52 5/8 × 1 3/4 inches (128.9 × 133.7 × 4.4 cm)
Paintings
Contemporary Art after 1950
Founders Society Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund
1989.71
Restricted
Markings
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Provenance
1989-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bulletin of the DIA 66, no. 2/3 (1990): p. 7 (fig. 4).
Hobbs, Robert, Joanne Kuebler. Richard Pousette-Dart. Indianapolis, Indiana,1990, p. 98, 101 (ill.).
Ehrhard, Ingrid and Katya Hilbig, eds. The Living Edge: Richard Pousette-Dart, 1916-1992: Works on Paper. Frankfurt, 2001, p. 32.
Kruty, Paul. "Richard Pousette-Dart, Paintings 1939-1985." In Transcending Abstraction: Richard Pousette-Dart, Paintings, 1939-1985, ed. Sam Hunter. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1986, pp. 27-30, 40 (ill.).
de Chassey, Éric, ed. Le Surréalisme dans l'Art Américain. Exh. cat., Musées de Marseille et la Réunion des muses nationaux. Paris, 2021, p. 81, cat. no. 64 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
© 2005 Estate of Richard Pousette-Dart / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Richard Pousette-Dart, Portrait of Pegeen, between 1942 and 1943, oil on linen. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, 1989.71.
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