archivecharlottedumas

Charlotte Dumas, Buck, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, 2012. Pigment inkjet print, 35 x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.© Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Babe, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, 2012. Pigment inkjet print, 35 x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Portraits of Animals Surrounded by their World

Charlotte Dumas, Ursa, Dolhain, Belgium, 2005. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 23-3/5 x 31-1/2". Collection De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art. Image courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York/Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Nivero, Palermo, Sicily, 2008. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 29-1/2 x 39-2/5". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Tilman, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, 2012. Pigment inkjet print, 35 x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Taza, Lake George, Colorado, 2005. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 23-3/5 x 31-1/2". Collection De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art. Image courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Erie, Kolmarden, Sweden, 2005. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 29 x 37-2/5". Collection Julie Saul Gallery, New York Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Barney, Palermo, Sicily, 2008. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 29-1/2 x 39-2/5". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, The Old Guard, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, 2011. Pigment inkjet print, 35 x 47". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Corcoran Gallery of Art
500 17th Street
202-639-1795
Washington
Rotunda
Charlotte Dumas: Anima
July 14-October 28, 2012

Charlotte Dumas: Anima, the first solo exhibition in the United States by Dutch artist Charlotte Dumas. Anima, organized by Paul Roth, the Corcoran’s senior curator and director of photography and media arts, showcases a newly-commissioned series of portraits in the Corcoran’s Rotunda that show the majestic burial horses of Arlington National Cemetery, and is accompanied by three earlier bodies of work, showing the artist’s range of approaches to her subjects.

A rising international contemporary artist, Dumas recently received widespread acclaim for her photographs of surviving search and recovery dogs of 9/11. “Dumas’ photographs are intended to provoke a kind of interaction, one that is focused and intense, between her viewers and her subjects,” said Roth. “Her goal is to engender a visual relationship, so that the portrait makes us more conscious of how we look at animals in our everyday lives.”

Dumas, travels the world making evocative formal portraits of animals, and typically works in series, portraying animals characterized by utility, social function, or how they relate to people. Drawing inspiration from portrait painting of the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age to explore relationships between subjects and environment, She often presents her subjects as heroic, in a struggle of sorts against marginalization or confinement, and against spatial and psychological encroachment of people.

“The bond between mankind and animals, and the extensive history that it accompanies, is my great interest,” said the artist. “I investigate how we tend to use and regard animals for our own purposes, both literally and symbolically — and the characteristics that we like to take to heart from them, and the ones we attribute to them.”

Commissioned by the Corcoran, Dumas recently began photographing Arlington National Cemetery’s burial horses while in their stables and at work. These Army horses, which belong to the Old Guard, the 3rd Infantry Regiment, carry soldiers to their final resting place in traditional military funerals. Additionally, the exhibition presents three earlier series of portraits that investigate the inner lives of particular animals: Reverie (2005) depicts gray wolves, alone and in packs, in forested nature preserves in Sweden, Norway, and the United States; Palermo 7 (2006) contains close-up portraits of racehorses, with their heads tethered in place in their hippodrome stalls in Italy and France; and Heart Shaped Hole (2008) depicts stray dogs, adapting in different ways to the privation they experience on the streets of Palermo.

Starting this spring, Dumas worked in tandem with graduate students from the Corcoran’s Master of Arts in New Media Photojournalism program — a pioneering academic program for visual journalists—to prepare a short documentary on her work. The documentary, which is on view alongside •Anima•, examines Dumas’s artistic process as she works to photograph the burial horses at Arlington National Cemetery. In the fall, Dumas returns to the Corcoran College of Art + Design for critiques and opportunities to discuss her work with students, and to present a public lecture at the end of October.

Charlotte Dumas was born in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, in 1977. She graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2000 and continued her education at the Rijksakademie from 2001 to 2002. Her work has been included in many group exhibitions and in solo shows in the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the United States. Dumas has published several books, including Retrieved (2011), Repose (2010), and Paradis (2009), each dedicated to her portrait series. Charlotte Dumas lives and works in both Amsterdam and New York City. She is represented by Julie Saul Gallery in New York and by Galerie Paul Andriesse in Amsterdam.

Charlotte Dumas, HSH, Palermo, Sicily, 2008. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 31-1/2 x 23-3/5". Collection Julie Saul Gallery. Image courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Vincennes 1, Paris, France, 2006. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 23-3/5 x 17-7/10". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Vincennes 3, Paris, France, 2006. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 23-3/5 x 17-7/10". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, Baiardo, La Favorita, Palermo, Sicily, 2006. Chromogenic color, (Type-C) print, 23-3/5 x 17-7/10". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

Charlotte Dumas, An odd sign, Palermo, Sicily, 2008. Chromogenic color (Type-C) print, 29-1/2 x 39-2/5". Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York / Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam. © Charlotte Dumas.

A Practice Born of Portraying a Controlled Aggression in Dogs

Foam_Fotografiemuseum
Keizersgracht 609
+ 31 (0)20 551 6500
Amsterdam
Charlotte Dumas – Paradis
September 4-November 22, 2009

It was at the Rijksakademie that Charlotte Dumas made her first series of animal portraits — five police dogs — which grew from a fascination with the portrayal of controlled aggression. In subsequent years several series emerged focusing on subjects such as police horses (Four Horses), army horses (Day is Done), wolves (Reverie), and more recently street dogs (Heart Shaped Hole). The relationship between man and animal forms a constant indirect element in her work. Dumas prefers to photograph animals with a close connection to humans and whom fulfil an important role for us: animals that have been tamed or trained by humans and which serve a particular purpose, whether in an actual task or by their appearance. Each of these animals lives in a human environment, generally in captivity. Dumas employs traditional formats, invariably placing the subject in the centre, portraying moments of concentrated calm. The psychology of portraiture plays a key role in this.

Paradis is the first major retrospective of the work of Dutch photographer Dumas (b. 1977, Vlaardingen). She makes serene, intimate portraits of animals. For the first time, Dumas presents a selection from the various series of animal portraits she has made in recent years. Shown here in a single exhibition, a new relationship emerges between the portraits of horses, wolves, tigers and other animals, highlighting the connection between the different subjects. Dumas also presents a selection of the polaroids she has taken on the side since she began and which provide tangible evidence of her extensive travels in pursuit of her subject.

Dumas always works in series. She spends an average of one year on each subject, placing particular emphasis on the study and observation of the animal and its environment. Finally, she selects a relatively small number of photos - between six and nine — for a series. Since Dumas never uses a telescopic lens, the distance that the viewer experiences is the actual distance of the photographer from the subject. This requires a variety of techniques: it is easier to bridge the physical distance when photographing horses or dogs than when photographing wolves or tigers. Often Dumas portrays animals lying, a position that stresses the vulnerability which Dumas believes every animal possesses.

Charlotte Dumas is a graduate of Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Rijksakademie voor visuele kunsten in Amsterdam. Dumas has exhibited at Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (2004/08), Valentina Bonomo Gallery, Rome (2005),de Pont Museum, Tilburg (2006) and Lawrence Markey, San Antonio TX (2008). Her work has also appeared in various group shows including Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered which recently opened at the Museum of the City of New York, New York (jointly organised by Foam to mark Hudson Year), Creatures from the Collection in Huis Marseille (2008), L’esprit du Nord, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (2006). Dumas currently lives and works in New York.

Accompanying the exhibition is an eponymous publication, Paradis (published by d’jonge Hond). A documentary made by VPRO for Dutch television’s Het Uur van de Wolf is premiered in Foam at the opening of the exhibition.