William Wegman
Wrap, 1996
Polaroid
27 1/8 x 35 1/8 inches
Gift of Ronald & Ronni Casty
William Wegman was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston in 1965 with a BFA in painting. Two years later, he received an MFA in painting and printmaking from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
Although best known for large format Polaroids of his beloved Weimaraners (His first canine model, Man Ray was named "Man of the Year" in 1982 by New York's Village Voice.), Wegman is also a virtuoso of painting, drawing, film and a pioneering
maker of video. He is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and honored by the New Your Foundation for the Arts.
His work has been exhibited internationally and included in the public collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany; and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York among others.
About Wrap, 1996
Wrap is featured in a portfolio of more than fifty fashion photographs published by Abrams as William Wegman: Fashion Photographs to accompany a major traveling exhibition. The high fashion photographs of supermodels Battina, Chip,
Chundo and Crooky were shot with a 20 x 24" Polaroid camera. Clothing and accessories were provided by some of the world's most well-known designers. The significance of the title is more textural than metaphorical. The sequins of the designer suit
look like bubbles in the trailing bubble wrap.
Meet Chip wearing Moschino. Described by Wegman as devastatingly handsome, his adolescence conveys an uncomplicated look of innocence seldom seen in today's fashion magazines. Wegman emotes, Chip is the Hellenic Golden Age, the "David" of dogs. Wegman's unique relationship with his model combined with his uncanny sense of form, texture and narrative provide an opportunity for the viewer to see familiar fashion in a new way.
Wrap can be viewed in the Charles A. Dana Building, Floor 2.
Another work by Wegman
Also on view in the Cutler Art Gallery, Yawkey 3 is Wegman's multi paneled Sisters featuring Chip's mother Battina (Batty) and Batty's sister Crooky.