Self Portrait, 1967
Andy Warhol, American, 1928-1987
screenprint in paint on canvas
screenprint in paint on canvas
oil on canvas
pastel, pencil, and black chalk on dark cream wove paper
transfer lithograph printed in gray ink on laid paper
oil on canvas
oil on canvas
oil on Masonite
Pinchbeck (an alloy of copper and zinc, inimitation of gold), glass
drypoint printed in black ink on wove paper
gelatin silver print
four-color halftone print from autochrome positive
Ambrotype
oil on ivory
watercolor on japanese paper
watercolor (applied to both recto and verso) and pen and black ink on japanese paper
watercolor and reed pen and black ink on japanese paper
black chalk on lined paper
enameled earthenware
watercolor and gouache on heavy cream wove paper
watercolor and gouache on heavy cream wove paper
D-Cyphered: Portraits by Jenny Risher will take viewers on a photographic timeline that makes up the story of the Detroit hip-hop scene. Often overlooked by the movements in New York and Los Angeles, Detroit’s hip-hop history is deeply shaped by the various elements of Motown and Detroit techno. Since the emergence of Eminem and his movie 8 Mile, and the recognition of the genius of the late J. Dilla, Detroit has seen a deep underground scene emerge and gain national recognition. Through th...
The Detroit Institute of Arts will present a dossier exhibition featuring two masterworks of French eighteenth-century portrait sculpture lent from the Musée du Louvre. Created by the greatest sculptor of the Enlightenment, Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), the portraits depict two of America’s most iconic founders, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. As Guests of Honor, the portraits will be displayed in the company of selected works that similarly depict Franklin, Washington, and Robert...
Fusing art and fashion photography in ways that break down their long-established boundaries, The New Black Vanguard features vibrant color portraits, conceptual images, and fashion editorial photographs by groundbreaking Black photographers. Over 100 photographs–many found in traditional lifestyle magazines, ad campaigns, and museums, as well as on social media channels–open up conversations around the roles of the Black body and Black lives as subject matter.
The nineteen sculptures in this exhibit—made between 1850 and 2000—show different approaches American artists used to confront the past, shape the present, and hope for a brighter future. A bronze portrait transforms an American businessman into a Roman emperor. A pyramid of plywood reimagines the form of an ancient wonder. Abstract steel and fiberglass ice cream challenged notions of what a monument could be. Some were made for private commemoration and others for busy city streets. &...
Subjects from everyday life, local architecture and portraits are included in this exhibition that presents found photography drawn from the DIA’s and private collections in the U.S. Found photography is considered by museums and collectors as an “accidental” art form created by unknown and often untrained photographers. Rediscovered and recovered from flea and antique markets, online resale sites, in attics, yard sales or even found in the trash, found photography speaks to past eras, people an...
In this exhibition are over forty large-scale color and black-and-white photographs by Kwame Brathwaite. His work helped advance one of the most influential cultural movements of the 1960s, "Black Is Beautiful," when black women and men turned to natural hairstyles and African-inspired clothing. Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite is the first major exhibition dedicated to Brathwaite, a vital figure of the second Harlem Renaissance. Inspired by activist and black n...
The DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts) proudly presents the exhibition, James Barnor: Accra/London—A Retrospective, a comprehensive survey of the work of Ghanaian photographer James Barnor whose career spans more than six decades. A studio portraitist, photojournalist, and Black lifestyle photographer, Barnor was born in 1929 in the West African nation of Ghana. He established his famous Ever Young Studio in Accra in the early 1950s and devoted his early photography to documenting critical soc...
The Detroit Institute of Arts presents a survey of over 90 photographs by Russ Marshall whose black-and-white imagery was inspired by the Motor City’s streets, architecture, music and factory workers for over 50 years. Marshall was born in 1940 in the thriving coal-mining town of South Fork, Pennsylvania to a family of coal miners, farmers and industrial factory workers. His family relocated to Detroit in 1943. By the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Marshall had begun to phot...
The DIA welcomes Samuel F. B. Morse's painting Gallery of the Louvre as a "guest of honor" from June 16 to September 18, 2016.Gallery of the Louvre is on loan from the Terra Foundation for American Art and also includes Morse's copy of Titian's famous portrait of the French King Francis I, made from the original at the Louvre. The 6.2 x 9-ft. Gallery of the Louvre depicts a gallery imagined by Morse, in which he included 38 miniature versions of what were then the Lou...
Detroit After Dark is a dramatic display of light and dark, a photography exhibition of works from the DIA's permanent collection. Detroit After Dark is free with general museum admission. General museum admission is free for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Detroit After Dark includes architectural studies, street scenes and graffiti, as well as some of Detroit’s famous night haunts, like jazz club Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the legendary Grande Ballroom, an...
After exploring James Barnor’s groundbreaking portrait photography in the exhibition James Barnor: London/Accra, come be the subject of your own portrait. Photography students from Capturing Belief, a local nonprofit focused on giving young Detroiters the tools to tell their stories, invite you to experience an individual studio portrait session. Come explore your own image! Participants will get a copy of their images (while supplies last).
The term collage, derived from the French coller, to glue, describes artwork made from a mix of different materials. Using this distinctive process, use a mix of paper and cloth to create a portrait of someone important to you.
The term “collage” derives from the French word for glue, and describes artwork made from a mix of materials. In this workshop, use the collage process and a mix of materials to create a portrait of someone important to you. Free with admission; all supplies provided.
Inspired by Vincent van Gogh's 1887 Self-Portrait, stop by the DIA Art-Making studio and try out using oil pastels to create a portrait of yourself or someone important to you.
Use a variety of drawing and collage materials to create a portrait of your favorite pet or animal!
Use fabric, paper, and other materials to create your own collage self-portrait influenced by artists in the DIA collection including Benny Andrews, Betye Saar, and Mickalene Thomas. All supplies provided. Free with admission.
The European Paintings Council (EPC) will host a lecture with special guest Dr. Diane Bodart. Dr. Bodart is the David Rosand Associate Professor of Italian Renaissance Art History and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Columbia University.
Cézanne's Other: Hortense Fiquet Cézanne, as Painted by Her Husband, Paul Speaker: Susan Sidlauskas, Distinguished Professor of the History and Theory of Modern Art at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Paul Cézanne painted more portraits of his wife, Hortense, than any other sitter—the Detroit Institute of Arts boasts one in its collection. But these paintings have not often received attention. Compared to the sensual appeal and beauty of his apples in his still lifes...
Find inspiration in the galleries, then head to the Artmaking Studio and create your own sculpture using colorful wire — a portrait, an animal, something to hang on the wall or in the window, or even something to wear!
Learning about history from art A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity and honor to speak at the Livonia Town Hall Lecture Series. Over 400 members of our communities, many of them seniors from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, welcomed me warmly – one even placed a flower on my lapel before I stepped onto the podium. As I normally do, I started by explaining the reasons I came to Detroit and the many things I have learned during the 11 years I have lived with my family in Michig...
Conservation on display During the years I served as a DIA curator, I spent much time doing research in our conservation department. Exploring artwork under a microscope, discovering the elemental composition of pigments used during the Renaissance, and examining paintings with the help of X-radiography, raking or ultraviolet light were and still are some of my favorite activities. Not many people know that the DIA is not only one of the best museums in the country, but also one that is eq...
The importance of empty piazzas Early in March, I was in Mount Clemens leading a tour of some DIA painting reproductions installed there for residents of Macomb County. It was a fun crowd to be with and I had the opportunity to speak about one of my favorite works in our collection: Canaletto’s Piazza di San Marco. The image shows one of the most famous town squares in the world, located in Venice (Italy), during a sunny winter morning. Scattered throughout the civic space one can observ...
Reopening your DIA Dear Friends, This Friday, July 10, we will reopen the DIA for our members and tri-county residents and on July 15 to the general public. We wanted to do it this way to signal how grateful we are to Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties for their recent millage renewal on March 10. Our re-opening team has done an extraordinary job putting together a plan with NSF International. We will have the necessary protocols in place with the highest standards so our workplace a...
Fulfilling our mission I could not start this monthly letter without expressing how terribly saddened I am by the events Detroit and the nation have seen during the last week. At the DIA, we stand in solidarity with the people of Detroit and those around the world appealing for an end to racism, inequality, brutality and fear. The Detroit Institute of Arts commits to serving as a place of inclusion, diversity and equity for everyone in our community and beyond. We believe in th...
The impact of the DIA In 2015 when I became the DIA director, I started to travel in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties to any public place that would give me a microphone and an audience to speak to. I believed (and I still do) that it was necessary for everyone to be aware not only of the great art treasures that we keep in public trust, but also the extraordinary focus that our team places on our visitors and their experiences in the museum. I met many individuals from our tri-counties who...
Kermit at the DIA A couple of months ago, during our standing Tuesday Strategy Group meeting, where all the division heads gather to establish our chief lines of action, one of my colleagues announced that Kermit The Frog and Howdy Doody were going to go on display in our puppet case. I was familiar with the latter, but I had never heard the word Kermit in my life. So one of my colleagues pulled out her phone and showed me who Kermit was. Oh! I said, that is La Rana Gustavo (Kermit the ...
Starting the next chapter A couple of weeks ago my wife, Alex, drove our daughter Piper to New York City, where she is starting college this week. While they were traveling, I spent a good amount of time thinking about the current year, the upcoming one, and the opportunities we have ahead of us. With the school year just started, one looks back at 2020 and has the impression that much of the time was devoted to managing a world health crisis and how we have adapted to it. Let’s not forget, h...
Conservation Science After a short and very much enjoyed holiday break, I returned to work last week and started to catch up with our very exciting initiatives for 2020. I also had lunch with one of our patrons, who is a keen art collector and a very committed DIA supporter of our education work. He just got back from London where he saw beautiful art shows at the British Museum, National Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum among other institutions. We had a very animated conversation...
An unexpected time Over the last couple of days Tony Drake, DIA volunteer manager, has shared with me a number of images showing many of our volunteers as DIA visitors enjoying our galleries. During the last months, I have seen Tony walking around the museum with his camera taking pictures of our staff on-site to keep us engaged and upbeat during these challenging times. His friendly photos of our visiting volunteers are accompanied by a DIA floor plan indicating the location in which they we...
Through exploration of portraiture and self-portraiture across time and cultures in the DIA’s collection, students will understand how artists use pose, symbolism, clothing, facial expression, objects and other details to communicate information about people’s identity in portraits and their place within their culture.
Using Jean-Antoine Houdon’s portraits of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington at the Detroit Institute of Arts, students will explore the life stories of these figures to deepen their understanding of the importance of individual political and social contributions during the American Revolutionary period.
Students call upon their own life experiences and imagination in these drawing activities as they explore what elements can be used to create a still life, portrait, and self-portrait.