Faces of Despair
127 cms x 45.7 cms x 45.72 cms (50 ins x 18 ins x 50 ins)
made in 1991
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "Canadian Art Now (5th session)" held on Thu, Mar 27, 2025.
Lot 425
Lot 425
Estimate: CAD $4,000 - $6,000
Realised: CAD $2,500
Realised: CAD $2,500
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Toronto
Exhibitions:
The Power Plant, Toronto, Colette Whiten: New Needleworks, January 17 - March 1, 1992
Notes:
Colette Whiten’s needleworks are compelling pieces, contrasting appropriated, mass-media images of political subjects with the representational force of an explicitly female medium. Black and white photographs drawn from newspapers were transposed onto cloth as embroidered images, painstakingly produced by hand, pixel by pixel, in cross stitch needlepoint. The resulting fabric is draped over a steel plinth or lectern, balancing a sense of lightness and transience with weighty presence. Whereas previous embroidered works considered depictions of power - representing political leaders, exclusively male and typically having already met their downfall - in this series, Whiten draws her imagery from news photos of women from India and the Middle East. In displaying the resulting tapestries over the heavy, freestanding plinths, Whiten traces a political agency that has been historically denied to her subjects and the medium that depicts them.
The work includes the preparatory drawing where Whiten plotted out the colours for the embroidered pattern. The paper is held to a steel plate by magnets and is affixed to a wall. The pattern - a familiar sight to anyone who has done embroidery - enlarges and elevates the original photograph, but grounding the act of translation in a traditionally feminine handcraft.
Please note: the listed dimensions are for the steel plinth. The embroidered image is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. The prepatory drawing is 8 1/2 x 11 inches. The metal wall plate is 18 x 25 1/2 inches.
A copy of the 1992 exhibition catalogue is included with this lot.
Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Toronto
Exhibitions:
The Power Plant, Toronto, Colette Whiten: New Needleworks, January 17 - March 1, 1992
Notes:
Colette Whiten’s needleworks are compelling pieces, contrasting appropriated, mass-media images of political subjects with the representational force of an explicitly female medium. Black and white photographs drawn from newspapers were transposed onto cloth as embroidered images, painstakingly produced by hand, pixel by pixel, in cross stitch needlepoint. The resulting fabric is draped over a steel plinth or lectern, balancing a sense of lightness and transience with weighty presence. Whereas previous embroidered works considered depictions of power - representing political leaders, exclusively male and typically having already met their downfall - in this series, Whiten draws her imagery from news photos of women from India and the Middle East. In displaying the resulting tapestries over the heavy, freestanding plinths, Whiten traces a political agency that has been historically denied to her subjects and the medium that depicts them.
The work includes the preparatory drawing where Whiten plotted out the colours for the embroidered pattern. The paper is held to a steel plate by magnets and is affixed to a wall. The pattern - a familiar sight to anyone who has done embroidery - enlarges and elevates the original photograph, but grounding the act of translation in a traditionally feminine handcraft.
Please note: the listed dimensions are for the steel plinth. The embroidered image is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. The prepatory drawing is 8 1/2 x 11 inches. The metal wall plate is 18 x 25 1/2 inches.
A copy of the 1992 exhibition catalogue is included with this lot.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.