Untitled
Coat
1998 (made)
1998 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This work was commissioned by London Printworks Trust, a fabric-printing studio that also organises exhibitions of work by artists and designers using printed textiles. It was included in the 1998 exhibition ‘Masquerade’, an installation of clothing that imitated fashionable, commercially produced garments, with the intention of investigating the way clothes can transform our sense of self, break taboos and question stereotypes.
The coat that Ken McDonald used for this work was found in a gutter, apparently cast off by a homeless person. He decided to line the coat with a reproduction in satin of The Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Lawrence by Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427). St Lawrence is especially revered for his care of the poor. The re-worked coat, shabby and dirty but with a sumptuous lining, suggests that outward appearances should not be taken as a measure of character. By choosing a religious image for the lining McDonald also suggests that the modest and self-effacing may be more spiritual than those who make a show of their wealth.
The coat that Ken McDonald used for this work was found in a gutter, apparently cast off by a homeless person. He decided to line the coat with a reproduction in satin of The Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Lawrence by Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427). St Lawrence is especially revered for his care of the poor. The re-worked coat, shabby and dirty but with a sumptuous lining, suggests that outward appearances should not be taken as a measure of character. By choosing a religious image for the lining McDonald also suggests that the modest and self-effacing may be more spiritual than those who make a show of their wealth.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Untitled (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Wool lined with screen-printed satin |
| Brief description | Coat (found object in London street gutter) re-lined with screen print on satin. |
| Physical description | Woollen coat in rather poor condition (It was retrieved from a gutter in Notting Hill) which has been relined with a screen-printed satin lining. This bears a repeat image of 'Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Lawrence' by the international Gothic artist, Gentile da Fabriano |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Credit line | Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund |
| Production | Woollen coat lined with image of Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Lawrence by Gentile da Fabriano, screenprinted onto satin. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This work was commissioned by London Printworks Trust, a fabric-printing studio that also organises exhibitions of work by artists and designers using printed textiles. It was included in the 1998 exhibition ‘Masquerade’, an installation of clothing that imitated fashionable, commercially produced garments, with the intention of investigating the way clothes can transform our sense of self, break taboos and question stereotypes. The coat that Ken McDonald used for this work was found in a gutter, apparently cast off by a homeless person. He decided to line the coat with a reproduction in satin of The Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Lawrence by Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427). St Lawrence is especially revered for his care of the poor. The re-worked coat, shabby and dirty but with a sumptuous lining, suggests that outward appearances should not be taken as a measure of character. By choosing a religious image for the lining McDonald also suggests that the modest and self-effacing may be more spiritual than those who make a show of their wealth. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.286-2005 |
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| Record created | December 9, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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