Jaclyn Conley, Those in Need of Hope, 2020, oil on panel with collage, triptych
I’m looking back to two historic works in considering our current moment of political and social anxiety.
The painting, Those in Need of Hope is structured after the condensed frieze-like composition of Gustave Courbet’s A Burial At Ornans (1849–50), also called Painting of Human Figures, the History of a Burial at Ornans. This heroic painting of everyday people gathered in observance is a vision of loss and of unity, a constant which structures both individual lives and histories. The figures depicted are pulled from another document of shared grief, Paul Fusco’s photos of the RFK Funeral Train (1968).
—Jaclyn Conley
View source image
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968
Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos
View source image
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968
Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos
View source image
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968
Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos
View source image
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968
Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 1849–50
Jaclyn Conley, Those in Need of Hope, 2020, oil on panel with collage, triptych
I’m looking back to two historic works in considering our current moment of political and social anxiety.
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 1849–50
The painting, Those in Need of Hope is structured after the condensed frieze-like composition of Gustave Courbet’s A Burial At Ornans (1849–50), also called Painting of Human Figures, the History of a Burial at Ornans. This heroic painting of everyday people gathered in observance is a vision of loss and of unity, a constant which structures both individual lives and histories. The figures depicted are pulled from another document of shared grief, Paul Fusco’s photos of the RFK Funeral Train (1968).
—Jaclyn Conley
Source images
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968, Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos
Source images
Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968, Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos