When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us
When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us
Artist
Roni Horn
(born 1955)
Date1993
MediumSolid cast plastic and aluminum
Dimensions8 elements with variable heights 36 - 62 7/8 × 2 × 2 in.
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2014.14
Accession number
2014.14
On View
Not on viewLabel TextIn this work, Roni Horn translates Emily Dickinson’s poem through the materials favored by Minimalist artists. The sculpture reflects the poem’s structure: each unit’s length is determined by the corresponding line length in the poem. Horn combines the irregular rhythms of Dickinson, a prominent nineteenth-century American poet, with the strict formal approach of Donald Judd. The resulting artwork remixes male artistic modes with a female poetic voice.
Markingselement a: A DOUBT IF IT BE US
element b: ASSISTS THE STAGGERING MIND
element c: IN AN EXTREME ANGUISH
element d: UNTIL IT FOOTING FIND.
element e: AN UNREALITY IS LENT,
element f: A MERCIFUL MIRAGE
element g: THAT MAKES THE LIVING POSSIBLE
element h: WHILE IT SUSPENDS THE LIVES.
each element stamped at right end: ED 2/3 RH
