Existing comment:
Jim Nutt
born Pittsfield, MA 1938
Summer Salt
197
0acrylic on vinyl and enamel on wood
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gift of Dennis Adrian in honor of Claire B. Zeisler, 1980.30.1
Summer Salt depicts a mutilated and bound figure, possibly a scene of torture. The word play in its title -- which sounds like "some assault!" -- as well as its transgressive depiction of the body were typical of the Hairy Who, a group of six Chicago artists that counted Nutt a member. Nutt's violent takes on the human form -- most extreme from 1968 to 1970 -- coincided with increasing draft calls, civil unrest, and media images of the war's human cost. Nutt was reluctant to assign meaning to his works, but events seem to have influenced him. Whether referencing the suffering of POWs and civilians in Vietnam or assassinations on the home front, Nutt's painting registers the period's unease and trauma with an eerie precision. |