Fig. 204–Gastro-duodenostomy (Kocher)

Contemporary Art

1969

Jess (Jess Collins)
American, 1923–2004

Jess Collins’s work has been described as “easy to be charmed by and less easy to look at.” Indeed, the artist used a some-what grisly illustration from a 1913 surgery textbook as the source image for this work. Fig. 204–Gastro-duodenostomy (Kocher) reflects Collins’s recurring interest in humanity’s vulnerability and mortality. Thick layers of paint and a fabric-wrapped frame create a vibrant yet impenetrable barrier that is both tactile and enigmatic. On the back, Collins handwrote an excerpt from artist and poet William Blake’s annotations to The Excursion: Being a Portion of the Recluse, by poet William Wordsworth. The tension between the dense, textured canvas and the hidden text invites viewers to look beyond the surface and consider what lies beneath.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: Jess
Title: Fig. 204–Gastro-duodenostomy (Kocher)
Place: Long Beach (Artist's nationality:)
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.: 1969
Medium: Oil on canvas over wood
Dimensions: 63.5 × 83.8 cm (25 × 33 in.)
Credit Line: Twentieth-Century Purchase Fund
Reference Number: 1971.533

Robert Duncan, Translations by Jess, exh. cat. (New York; Odyssia Gallery, 1971), n.p., cat. 22 (ill.).
Andrea Miller-Keller, Jess/MATRIX 2, exh. brochure (Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1975), n.p.
Michael Auping, Robert J Bertholf, and Michael Palmer, Jess: A Grand Collage, 1951-1993, exh. cat. (Buffalo, N.Y: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1993), 164, 165 (color ill.), 231, cat. 39.

New York, Odyssia Gallery, Translations by Jess, May 8–June 12, 1971, cat. 22.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Translations, Oct. 28–Dec. 4, 1974, no cat.
Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, Jess/MATRIX 2, Jan. 7–Feb. 1975, no cat. no.
San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, Sept. 3–Oct. 21, 1976, not in cat.; Washington, D.C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, May 20–Sept. 11, 1977.
Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Jess, A Grand Collage, 1951-1993, Sept. 12–Oct. 31, 1993, cat. 39; Walker Art Center, Nov. 20, 1993–Jan. 23, 1994; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Feb. 24–Apr. 24, 1994; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, May 21–Aug. 21, 1994; Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 22–Dec. 4, 1994.

The artist; sold through Galleria Odyssia, New York, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 16, 1971.

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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.

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