Pairs, reversed images and alter egos haunt “The Double,” a new exhibition opening July 10 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Starting around 1900, curator James Meyer says, many modern artists were drawn to the theme of doubling, some of them inspired by Freud’s insights on conflicting mental processes and by photographic techniques like double exposures.
The avant-garde photographer Man Ray found that even a slight suggestion of doubling could be powerfully unsettling.
The resulting portrait was blurred and seemed to have four eyes, suggesting a woman with clashing personas.
To drive the point home, Man Ray also printed and exhibited a photographic negative of Casati, turning every white in the picture to black, and vice versa.
Persons:
“, James Meyer, Matisse, Warhol, Mondrian, Duchamp, Man Ray, Luisa Casati, Ray
Organizations:
National Gallery of Art
Locations:
Washington ,