May, June, July, August '57/'09 #8
Lorna Simpson
American, born 1960
2009
A grid of twelve small gelatin silver prints in which Lorna Simpson stages and sequences intimate, midcentury‑styled portrait poses to revisit and question how photographs make and repeat personal histories.
You’re struck by the tight, square compositions and high‑contrast black‑and‑white images—repeated poses of a woman in domestic settings (lounging, on the telephone, in a robe) presented like a contact sheet so variations and rhythms leap out at once.
By pairing repetition, staging, and archival reference, the work opens a conversation about how photography constructs memory, gendered domesticity, and the public meanings of private images.
Medium
Twelve gelatin silver prints
Dimensions
Each 5 × 5" (12.7 × 12.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art
Accession
73.2010.a-l
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
