When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us
When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us
Alternate Title
- From an edition of 3
Artist
Roni Horn
(born 1955)
Date1993
MediumSolid cast plastic and aluminum
Dimensions8 elements with variable heights 36 - 62 7/8 × 2 × 2 in.
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2014.14
Accession number
2014.14
On View
Not on viewMarkingselement a: A DOUBT IF IT BE US
element b: ASSISTS THE STAGGERING MIND
element c: IN AN EXTREME ANGUISH
element d: UNTIL IT FOOTING FIND.
element e: AN UNREALITY IS LENT,
element f: A MERCIFUL MIRAGE
element g: THAT MAKES THE LIVING POSSIBLE
element h: WHILE IT SUSPENDS THE LIVES.
each element stamped at right end: ED 2/3 RH
Label TextIn this work, Roni Horn translates Emily Dickinson’s poem through the materials favored by Minimalist artists. The sculpture reflects the poem’s structure: each unit’s length is determined by the corresponding line length in the poem. Horn combines the irregular rhythms of Dickinson, a prominent nineteenth-century American poet, with the strict formal approach of Donald Judd. The resulting artwork remixes male artistic modes with a female poetic voice.
