Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Richard Prince – Untitled - Cowboy (2016)
- Specifications
- Description
- The Maker
- Brand:Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Denmark
- Country: Printed in Denmark
- SKU: LA-110413-FJ
- Material: Printed on paper.
- Dimensions:33.1" x 23.4" (A1)
When people like Richard Prince in the late 1970s "Billed Generation" did not want to approach painting (he did later on), photography and works on paper were possible solutions. And when Prince really made his mark on the art scene in New York around 1980, it happened precisely with his now famous re-photographs.
With his own camera, he thus stole existing images, twisted them and thus opened them up to new meanings and the many forms of desire that lie within them. Also his own. Prince himself emphasizes this non-fiction as an underlying current in his art. For Prince, reproduction of reality has always been the real goal and what has guided his artistic choices. By, for example as here, re-photographing advertisements with consumer goods.
Prince doesn't ask questions, he says, he seeks answers. All of Prince's works revolve around identity, thus turning his pictorial world into a portrait of the late 20th century: Who are you? Who am I?
From the beginning, the founder, Knud W. Jensen, intended for the museum to be a home for modern Danish art. But after only a few years he changed course, and instead of being a predominantly Danish collection, Louisiana became an international museum with many internationally renowned works.
Louisiana's close contact and collaboration with the international arts and cultural milieu has since been one of the museum's greatest strengths. And also one of the main reasons that it has been possible for Louisiana to present an exhibition program that has resonated so strongly with the public over the years. Louisiana has thus achieved a standing as one of the world's most respected exhibition venues, and in the future, it will be able to attract exhibitions and artists at a level that few other museums—either in Denmark or abroad—can match.
Knud W. Jensen put into action many of the period's visionary ideas about modern museum operation, including a desire for art to have a wide audience. It has always been the view at Louisiana that art is not just for an elite but includes experiences and visions for the many.
Why is it called Louisiana?
Many people wonder about the name of the museum. The short explanation is this—a nobleman and his three wives.
Knud W. Jensen chose to "take over" the name of the country house that he later converted to a museum. The property had been built and named in 1855 by Alexander Brun (1814-93), who was an officer and Master of the Royal Hunt and who married three women who were all named Louise.
Here at Louisiana, he was a pioneer in beekeeping and the cultivation of fruit trees.
From the beginning, it was Knud W. Jensen's vision to create a museum with soul, where the public could encounter artwork—not as something pretentious, but rather something that spoke directly to the viewer. And he emphasized the need for "supplementary content" that could help bring alive and enrich the environment: The more opportunities for experience that the program offers, the more Louisiana lives up to its idea—to be a 'musical meeting place' and a milieu that is engaged in contemporary life.
—Knud W. Jensen
