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Details
- Date
- 1988
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil, wax on canvas
- Dimensions
- 189.0 x 144.0 x 4.2 cm stretcher
- Signature & date
Signed and dated u.l. verso, black marker "Lindy Lee 1988".
- Credit
- Purchased 1988
- Location
- South Building, ground level, Grand Courts
- Accession number
- 307.1988
- Copyright
- © Lindy Lee/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Lindy Lee
Works in the collection
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About
In this painting, Lindy Lee reproduces a detail from
'The disrobing of Christ' 1577–59 by Domḗnikos
Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), the artist best known
as El Greco (The Greek). The original painting
depicts Jesus moments before the crucifixion,
surrounded by a crowd of people. In contrast,
'This too is heroic' focuses on the solitary figure of
a man bent over the base of the cross, diligently
drilling a hole for the nail that will soon follow.Using a method known as encaustic painting, Lee
rendered the canvas in red before covering it in
a layer of wax and black pigment which, when
eroded and scraped away, reveals the shape
of a man glowing through the darkness. Lee’s
appropriation of this fragmentary image is tied to
her personal story as a Chinese Australian, and her
search for a sense of identity through the grand
narratives of Western art history. -
Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
(Lindy Lee), Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Paddington, 24 May 1988–11 Jun 1988
Lindy Lee: the dark of absolute freedom (2014-15), University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 20 Sep 2014–22 Feb 2015
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Anthony Bond and Victoria Lynn, AGNSW Collections, 'Contemporary Practice - Here, There, Everywhere ...', pg. 229-285, Sydney, 1994, 267 (colour illus.).
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Michele Helmrich, Lindy Lee: the dark of absolute freedom, 'From darkness to light: pathos and reverie in the work of Lindy Lee', pg. 15-44, Brisbane, 2014, 23, 102 (colour illus.), 103, 140.
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Wayne Tunnicliffe, Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection, 'Cultural memory, critical distance', pg.154-203, Sydney, 2006, 178 (colour illus.).
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