Louise Lawler
1947–
Part of the Pictures Generation, Louise Lawler has used photography since the early 1980s to examine the conditions under which art is seen and the networks through which it is circulated, displayed, and sold. Exploring how such changes of context not only engender different experiences of art but produce different meanings, Lawler uncovers the various, often conflicting, interests that underpin the sites in which art is encountered and commodified: galleries, museums, art fairs, collectors’ homes, auction houses, and art storage facilities. Her photographs have captured items such as wall labels, packing and shipping materials, and exhibition vitrines—ancillary elements, usually unremarked upon or unseen, that nonetheless affect an artwork’s reception and meaning.
Salon Hodler, Lawler’s image of the living room of a Swiss art collector, demonstrates the centrality of context in the experience of viewing art. It features two large fin-de-siècle paintings by the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler that hang on adjacent walls. In this room the paintings function as status symbols, taking their place alongside other emblems of wealth and taste such as an ornate chandelier and antique furnishings—an elegant décor that seems to neutralize Hodler’s vibrant palette and even temper the eroticism of his embracing couples. Lawler relies here on photography’s presumptions of objectivity—the image, like those in many of her works, has a clinical, detached feel—even as she exploits the aesthetic possibilities of her medium through the use of large-scale, glossy prints that document her prepossessing subjects.
Introduction
Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York City. Lawler’s work has focused on photographing portraits of other artists’ work, giving special attention to the spaces in which they are placed and methods used to make them. Examples of Lawler's photographs include images of paintings hanging on the walls of a museum, paintings on the walls of an art collector's opulent home, artwork in the process of being installed in a gallery, and sculptures in a gallery being viewed by spectators.
Along with artists like Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and Barbara Kruger, Lawler is considered to be part of the Pictures Generation.
Wikidata identifier
Q539270
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 11, 2025.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, conceptual artist, installation artist, painter, photographer
ULAN identifier
500088762
Names
Louise Lawler
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 11, 2025.
