Marlene Dumas, Alan Turing, 2015. SOLD OUT
This new limited edition Marlene Dumas print is released coinciding with her Tate Modern exhibition Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden, 5 February - 10 May 2015.
This image of the print is one of 16 portraits that make up “Great Men,” a series by Marlene Dumas that was exhibited in St. Petersburg, Russia, as part of Manifesta 10, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, June to Oct. 31, 2014. Each of the men depicted was persecuted, in one way or another, because they were suspected of being gay. They include the writers James Baldwin and Tennessee Williams; the dancers and choreographers Rudolf Nureyev and Vaslav Nijinsky, and the mathematician Alan Turing.
Ms. Dumas, who is known for her emotionally charged portraits, hopes the series might “contribute to a mentality change” in Russia, where recent anti-gay legislation has led to an escalation of hate crimes against gay men and lesbians. “The project is to provoke thought, not aggression,” the South African-born, Amsterdam-based Ms. Dumas said in an email interview. “I hope to touch the audience with these intimate portraits and the lives of these men. I hope to share my shame, seeing the stupidity and cruelty of the human race. When you start to acknowledge the stories of these men, it breaks your heart.”
Alan Mathison Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He was a key figure in cracking Germany's naval Enigma code which helped the Allies win the Second World War.
He was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when such behaviour was still criminalised in the UK. He accepted "treatment" with oestrogen injections (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death a suicide; his mother and some others believed it was accidental. In 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013. The must see movie The Imitation Game, an historical thriller about the life and work of Turing, was released in 2014.
Medium: Piezographic print on paper
Size: 35 x 44 cm- 13,78 x 17,32 in.
Edition of 100
Signed and numbered
Price: £900 SOLD
This limited edition Marlene Dumas print is available at Tate
