Iago's Mirror
Fred Wilson
(American, born in 1954)
2009
Medium/TechniqueMurano glass, plywood, metal pins and hardware
Dimensions80x 48 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. (203.2x123.8x26.7 cm)
Credit LineJohn and Ernestine Payne Fund and The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession number2011.235
On View
On viewClassificationsGlass
Collections
Iago’s Mirror reflects Shakespeare’s Othello, the story of a black, Muslim military commander tragically undone by his soldier Iago’s racist manipulations. Working with Venetian glassmakers, Wilson reimagines the concept of a mirror by piling mirrors atop one another, and reverses centuries of tradition by painting the glass’s flip side black rather than silver. The result is an ominous symbol of the tensions that drive Shakespeare’s own Venetian tale.
ProvenanceSold by the artist to The Pace Gallery, New York; 2011, sold by Pace Gallery to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 22, 2011)
Copyright© Fred Wilson 2009.
mid-19th century
