SALT LAKE CITY — Along a wall in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, two lovers communicate with each other from inside the bounds of their own distinct portraits. Situated in her room, a woman delicately hushes her lover with a finger raised to her mouth, while her male companion lovingly gestures to her as he departs.
Together the lovers form a pendant — a pair of artworks meant to be displayed side by side. Pendants come in many varieties, ranging from portraiture and landscape paintings to abstract prints and sculptures. The UMFA's latest exhibition, “Power Couples: The Pendant Format in Art,” showcases art in pairs from the 16th century to the present day.
Leslie Anderson, UMFA’s curator of European, American and regional art, got the idea for the exhibit while doing research in Denmark, where she discovered that a well-known portrait of a professor at Copenhagen Academy had a mysterious companion piece.
“I thought about how the revelation changed the understanding of the work,” Anderson said.
That discovery spurned a fascination with art pairings and a determination to continue learning all she could about the form. After arriving at the UMFA, Anderson began to consider doing an exhibition about pairs in art, partly because the literature was limited on this subject.
“After analyzing closely the collection at the UMFA, I noticed there were a number of pairs in the collection,” she said. “At the same time, I was thinking about the reinstallation (the UMFA closed for renovation from mid-January 2016-August 2017), and there were works that needed to be treated and conserved.”
For Anderson, the conservation created more opportunities to understand the pairings. Now the new exhibit, on display through Dec. 8, explores what she learned a few years ago in Copenhagen: how two artworks can visually and narratively inform one another, including bringing gender, societal and racial politics into focus.
Take Gilbert Stuart’s “Mr. and Mrs. Simon Walker,” for instance. Set in front of a neutral background, Mr. Walker, a prosperous 19th century merchant in Philadelphia, wears an attractive dark coat and holds papers in his hand. Alternatively, Mrs. Walker’s silhouette is framed by a lavish red drape, slightly recoiled to reveal a large classical architectural backdrop.
While the stylistic differences help reinforce the different spheres each spouse encompasses — the economic versus domestic, for example — the actual placement of the portraits is also significant. In such portraits, the artist would typically place the husband in the “dexter” or right-hand position (the viewer would see him on the left), while the wife’s placement was traditionally in the “sinister” or left-hand position. As the museum’s educational labels mention, this visual allocation reinforces the subjects' social standings and roles and shows the longstanding gender disparity in art historical representation.
But other pairings in the exhibit, like Kerry James Marshall’s “Diptych Color Blind Test,” take an experimental approach to the tradition, challenging and even subverting those rules. Additional standouts in the UMFA exhibit include 17th century master Dirck Hals’ pair of Merry Company scenes (which serve as candid snapshots of Dutch youth in an era of political and historical transformation), Japanese artist Konishi Hirosada’s color woodcuts that depict closeup portraits of Kabuki theater actors, and works by Alfred Lambourne (on loan from the Church History Museum) that showcase Latter-day Saint history at two distinct moments.
Landscape pairings are also featured prominently, from a pair of small still lifes to Anton J. Rasmussen’s monumental “Bryce Canyon,” that for Anderson is a reminder of the region's rich geological history.
Anderson said “Power Couples” has also taught her to think differently about the ways visitors can engage with an exhibit.
“I spent a lot of time researching and gathering information for the interpretive labels, but as the narratives were forming, I noticed a very playful current throughout the exhibition,” she said. “We facilitated this playfulness through participatory interventions in the gallery and by posing questions in the interpretive labels.”
Other interactive features include a mirror that allows visitors to complete the pair with their own reflection and a painting reproduction with movable accessories.
Above all, Anderson said “Power Couples” confirms the role of visual art in shaping and informing our perceptions, and she hopes the interactive exhibit will draw even more people into Utah's fine arts scene.
“I want viewers to see something familiar in an unfamiliar way and through a totally new context,” she said. “But also I always want the community to realize what treasures we have here at the UMFA.”
Note: A number of free public programs will run in conjunction with the exhibition. For a full list, please visit: umfa.utah.edu/power-couples.
If you go …
What: “Power Couples: The Pendant Format in Art”
When: through Dec. 8, Thursday-Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; closed Monday
Where: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive
How much: $12.95 for adults; $9.95 for children ages 6-18 and seniors; free for children ages 5 and under, UMFA members and University of Utah students, staff and faculty
Phone: 801-581-7332
Web: umfa.utah.edu