Heckscher Museum Presents Identity Crisis: Authenticity, Attribution and Appropriation

HUNTINGTON, NY .- The Heckscher Museum of Art presents Identity Crisis: Authenticity, Attribution and Appropriation. This exceptional exhibition which opened on January 15, 2011 and runs through March 27, 2011, explores issues relating to the artistic use of other artists’ styles and images in historical and contemporary works.

Historically popular artists had followers, imitators and forgers, while more recent artists openly adopt well-known images and styles to comment on originality, authorship and culture. This exhibition presents old master and nineteenth-century works from The Heckscher Museum Permanent Collection, providing a framework for connoisseurship issues, such as authenticity and attribution. Artists to be considered include Canaletto, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-Desire-Gustave Courbet, and George Inness, among others.

Contemporary appropriation artists add a new dimension to the use of adopted images, as seen in the work of such artists as Mike Bidlo, David Bierk, George Deem, Audrey Flack, Kathleen Gilje, Paul Giovanopoulos, Deborah Kass, Jiri Kolar, Sherrie Levine, Carlo Mariani, Yasumasa Morimura, Vik Muniz, Richard Pettibone, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and others, providing an instructive and stimulating counterpoint to the issues raised by the historical works in the show.

The Heckscher Museum of Art, founded in 1920 by August Heckscher, is dedicated to furthering the appreciation and understanding of art by conserving, interpreting, refining and expanding its Permanent Collection, fostering scholarship, and presenting stimulating and inspiring exhibitions and educational programs for this and future generations. The Museum Permanent Collection contains more than 2,200 works from the early 16th century to present.