Glenn Ligon

Max Protetch, New York
Collection of Reader's Digest Association, New York (acquired from the above in 1991)
Christie's, New York, 7 March 2012, Lot 49
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

This work is in excellent condition overall. The canvases are unlined. There is some light wear along the extreme edges and at the corners of each canvas. The areas of impasto are intact and the surface texture is inherent to the artist’s working method. In the left side canvas, there is a pinpoint surface accretion in the top center of the canvas, beneath the letter “o” in “enjoy” and again in the bottom right, beneath the letter “m” in “statement.” Under Ultraviolet light inspection there is no evidence of restoration. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, the second aforementioned pinpoint surface accretion fluoresces lightly but is not the result of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Glenn Ligon's Prologue Series #1 is a dense, aesthetic document, designed to be read closely, analyzed and internalized. Ligon began his text paintings in the 1980s, joining the ranks of artists such as Barbara Kruger and Richard Prince, who were also using text as their primary subject during that period. Like those artists, Ligon's work plays with appropriation and the inherent authority of the written word. However, the artist's text paintings, in particular Prologue Series #1, also insist upon the primacy of painting and the mark of the human hand. The wrought, layered surface does not offer a clear directive or message, but rather insists upon obscurity, much like a challenging text that requires deciphering.

Prologue Series #1 draws upon Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, a seminal novel in the canon of American literature that chronicles the struggles of an African-American man trying to find success in a society dominated by white culture. As the title of the painting indicates, the artist retraces lines from the book's opening chapter, which earnestly lays out its principle themes. On the right side of the canvas, the viewer can make out a section of this crucial line: "I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." Yet, it is only a fragment. Ligon distorts the text, transforming the concise, illuminating passage into something half-articulated and mysterious. As Richard Meyer writes, "Ligon teaches us that the material force of the language, the legacy of the borrowed voice, may register most strongly at the very moment of its own vanishing" (Richard Meyer, "Borrowed Voices: Glenn Ligon and the Force of Language" in Exh. Cat., Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Contemporary Art, Glenn Ligon: Unbecoming, 1997, p. 34). The artist simultaneously invokes a familiar text and restricts one's access to it, compelling the viewer to reconsider his or her prior understanding of the book and its content.

The composition of Prologue Series #1 is fairly unique among the artist's text paintings because of its triptych format. The three sections of black and white text evoke the pages of a novel, but also, as Judith Tannenbaum writes, "replicates the placards carried by striking black sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968" (Judith Tannenbaum, "Introduction" in ibid., p. 9). The triptych format also suggests an affiliation with altarpieces, lending the work an additional sense of moral gravitas. By incorporating visual cues from such varied contexts, the artist provides many points of potential contact for the viewer and invites a diverse set of possible interpretations. The artist's handling of the oil stick is also ripe for subjective analysis. Ligon used a stencil to achieve the look of a printed font, but by tracing Ellison's phrases repeatedly on the white surface, the artist creates areas so thick with letters that their assemblage is not even recognizable as writing. Here, the artist appears to formally demonstrate the limitations of language, or rather the myriad of ways in which it can be muddled, misunderstood and censored. The central panel is populated by an especially textured cluster of layered words, which have completely lost their representational affectations. The impasto surface conveys the heavy, repetitive hand of the artist, insisting on the power and exertion of the artist's physical presence. Here, Ligon offers an abstract passage which purports emotive gesture over recapitulated words. In this way, the painting can be understood not only as a reframing of a familiar text but also as an intensely personal narrative of the Ligon's artistic and physical engagement.

On the surface, the central concern of Prologue Series #1 is a commentary on a work of African-American literature, but its intricate formal devices point to a myriad of potential subtexts, both historical and personal. Darby comments, "To be sure, by refusing to produce a positive identification of its subject, and instead planting it deep within the immensity of its influences, Ligon's practice comes audaciously close to making an argument against the possibility of autonomy" (Darby English, "Glenn Ligon: Committed to Difficulty" in Exh. Cat., Toronto, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre (and traveling), Glenn Ligon: Some Changes, 2005, p. 73). Ligon's work demonstrates that no narrative exists in a void, that culture is principally relational, and that a painting, like a work of literature, demands ceaseless interpretation.