The Traveling Conjuror and His Troupe

Dotty Attie

born 1938

The Traveling Conjuror and His Troupe, 1978

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: colored pencil; paper

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): each 14 x 14 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: National Endowment for the Arts

Accession number: 1979.0021

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Past Presence

In The Traveling Conjurer and His Troupe, Dotty Attie combines open-ended texts with pencil drawings of details of paintings by historical artists such as Caravaggio and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Attie’s cropping and copying draws our attention to the way that the expressions, gestures, and textures in these small details communicate meaning. She separates the images from their art historical contexts, connecting them instead to an enigmatic story that requires the viewer’s participation to make sense. The Traveling Conjurer and His Troupe suggests the ways that the art of the past can continue to have meaning for contemporary audiences.

Exhibition Label: "Sum of the Parts: Recent Works on Paper," Jun-2001, Stephen Goddard Like the pages in a book, art on paper inherently invites narrative storytelling. In The Traveling Conjuror and His Troupe Dotty Attie has combined precise pencil drawings of provocative details of old master paintings with her own open-ended texts. The story line in Attie’s work is intentionally obscure, forcing the viewer to help create the narrative. Attie has noted of her choice of images, “they related to everything I had drawn all my life and loved all my life.”