June 8th: James Meyer in conversation with W.J.T. Mitchell and Julia Bryan-Wilson
Presented by 192 Books and Paula Cooper Gallery, James Meyer will discuss his new book The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900 with W.J.T. Mitchell and Julia Bryan-Wilson.
The live event will stream directly on this page on Wednesday, June 8th at 7 pm ET. There is no login or rsvp required. A recording will be posted shortly afterwards. If you have questions during the event, please email them to Evan@192Books.com.
James Meyer — The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900 (Published by Princeton University Press in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2022)
From ancient mythology to contemporary cinema, the motif of the double—which repeats, duplicates, mirrors, inverts, splits, and reenacts—has captured our imaginations, both attracting and repelling us. The Double examines this essential concept through the lens of art, from modernism to contemporary practice—from the paired paintings of Henri Matisse and Arshile Gorky, to the double line works of Piet Mondrian and Marlow Moss, to Eva Hesse’s One More Than One, Lorna Simpson’s Two Necklines, Roni Horn’s Pair Objects, and Rashid Johnson’s The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Emmett). James Meyer’s survey text explores four modes of doubling: Seeing Double through repetition; Reversal, the inversion or mirroring of an image or form; Dilemma, the staging of an absurd or impossible choice; and the Divided and Doubled Self (split and shadowed selves, personae, fraternal doubles, and pairs). Thought-provoking essays by leading scholars Julia Bryan-Wilson, Tom Gunning, W.J.T. Mitchell, Hillel Schwartz, Shawn Michelle Smith, and Andrew Solomon discuss a host of topics, including the ontology and ethics of the double, the double and psychoanalysis, double consciousness, the doppelgänger in silent cinema, and the queer double.
Richly illustrated throughout, The Double is a multifaceted exploration of an enduring theme in art, from painting and sculpture to photography, film, video, and performance.
Exhibition Schedule
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
July 10–October 31, 2022
James Meyer is Curator of Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and organizer of The Double exhibition opening at the National Gallery from July 1 - October 31, 2022. He was formerly Winship Distinguished Research Associate Professor of Art History at Emory University. His publications include Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the 1960s, The Art of Return: The 1960s and Contemporary Culture, Dwan Gallery: Los Angeles to New York, 1959-1971, and Minimalism.
W. J. T. Mitchell is Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago and the Senior Editor of Critical Inquiry. He is the author of numerous books on images, media, and visual culture, including Iconology (1986), Picture Theory (1994), What Do Pictures Want? (2005), and Image Science (2012). His most recent book is Mental Traveler: A Father, a Son, and a Journey.
Julia Bryan-Wilson is an art historian, critic, and curator whose books include Fray: Art and Textile Politics, recipient of the ASAP Book Prize, the Frank Jewett Mather Award, and the Robert Motherwell Book Award. She is an adjunct curator at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, and her exhibition Louise Nevelson: Persistence is an official collateral event of the 2022 Venice Biennale. As of July 1, 2022, she will begin an appointment at Columbia University as its first Professor of LGBTQ Art History.