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Bather/Night

A work made of acrylic on canvas.
© 2009 Carroll Dunham.

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  • A work made of acrylic on canvas.

Date:

2009

Artist:

Carroll Dunham
American, born 1949

About this artwork

Carroll Dunham creates prints, drawings, and paintings featuring boldly graphic, often erotic cartoon-inspired imagery. His work appears at once sophisticated and childlike, refined and obscene. Bather/Night is part of a recent series that explores the somewhat well-worn art-historical theme of a woman in nature—a new subject for the artist. Specifically, this piece depicts a woman bathing, a theme that recalls classic depictions by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Pierre Bonnard. Shown in severe foreshortening, a female nude bends forward under a night sky inspired by the painter Vincent van Gogh, splashing herself with water as her geisha-style hair blends into the background. As Dunham explained, “It’s almost similar to the way you might simultaneously be having the most intimate look at someone’s body parts and out the other side of your eye you see a tree way off in the distance—that collision of subjects and that collision of space.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Carroll Dunham

Title

Bather/Night

Place

United States (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

2009

Medium

Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

180.3 × 180.3 cm (71 1/8 × 71 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Ada S. Garrett Prize Fund

Reference Number

2010.268

Copyright

© 2009 Carroll Dunham.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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