마릴린 민터

(b. 1948, Shreveport, LA; lives and works in New York, NY) creates photographs, painting, and videos that offer nuanced representations of women. Well known for her meticulous technical mastery, Minter’s details often highlight natural corporeal qualities that are omitted in mass-media depictions of women, such as body hair and stretch marks, which she deems not only authentic but also beautiful. In her early work, Minter explored erotica—most often images created by men for men—and created new versions of erotic images solely meant for female consumption as a means of reclaiming female sexuality and desire. This revolutionary act was met with serious criticism from leaders of the feminist movement who questioned the ability to reclaim such exploitative images. Nevertheless, Minter has unabashedly continued to advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedoms, a stance, which for her, always includes women openly expressing their sexuality and desire—reclaiming the female body and subverting the historical objectification of women from the male gaze. In addition to her commitment to challenging the historic portrayal of women through images, Minter’s work also reveals true mastery of her mediums. Her training in both photography and painting make her working process unique: for each painting she begins with a photograph or series of photographs, which serve as the basis for her larger compositions. Minter replicates the photograph in paint but makes subtle formal adjustments by altering the “focus” of the image, increasing the density of elements such as frost or steam through the use of layering thousands of colors, applying the photographic tenet of focus to the painting process. Likewise, Minter applies painterly approaches to her photography. By placing a glass surface between her models and the camera, she physically obscures the pictorial plane, skillfully introducing abstraction into the image. Through steadfast progressive values and a rigorous, time-consuming studio practice, Minter continues to reveal and revel in the exquisite reality of women’s bodies. Minter received a B.F.A. from The University of Florida, Gainesville in 1970 and went on to obtain an M.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1972. Solo exhibitions of her work have been organized at Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, France (2021); MoCA Westport, Westport, CT (2021); Moss Arts Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA (2020); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2020); Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (2017); Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (2016); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO (2015); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (2011); Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA (2010); Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH (2010); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2010); Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, OH (2009), among numerous others. Recent group exhibitions featuring her work include , McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2022); , Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (2022); , Berkeley At Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA (2021); , Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany (2020); , Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark (2020); , Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA (2019); , Ruby City, San Antonio, TX (2019); , The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2019); , Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (2018); , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (2018); , MoCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (2016); , Rubell Museum, Miami, FL (2015); traveled to National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (2017); , Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (2014); , Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland  (2012); traveled to Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (2013); , Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (2012); and , The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (2010); among others. Minter’s work is included in numerous public collections, including the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Blanton Museum of Fine Arts, Austin, TX; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY; Collection Claudine et Jean-Marc Salomon, château d'Arenthon, Alex, France; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Deutsche Bank, New York, NY; Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY; Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL; Kunsthaus Museum, Zurich, Switzerland; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston, MA; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Neuberger Berman, New York, NY; Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA; Perez Museum of Art, Miami, FL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY; Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. She has received numerous honors and distinctions such as the Savannah College of Art and Design, deFINE ART Honoree (2020); Planned Parenthood, Woman of Valor Award (2016); Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant (2006); Guggenheim Fellowship (1998); the New York Foundation for the Arts, Visual Arts Grant (1992); National Endowment for the Arts, Artist’s Fellowship Grant (1989); and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Artist’s Grant (1988).