Is She Ours?

Louise Lawler (American, born in 1947)

1990

Medium/Technique Photograph, silver-dye bleach print (Ilfochrome) and screen-printed lettering

Dimensions Photograph 104.1 x 139.7 cm (41 x 55 in.)
Text approx 1.5 x 13 inches

Credit Line Gift of Louise Lawler made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council

Accession Number1991.599

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Photography

ClassificationsPhotographs

Who has the right to say which objects are important? Who can view them—or reproduce them? Lawler raises such questions directly in her photograph of the MFA’s Impressionist gallery 255. She even includes her own wall text, an integral part of a museum experience. Instead of providing information, though, her text asks a question—who owns a work of art? Who decides what it means?

ProvenanceThe artist; to MFA, Boston, 1991