''26 October 1993'' is an artwork created in 1993 as a collaboration between English artists

Henry Bond Henry Bond, FHEA (born 13 June 1966) is an English writer, photographer, and visual artist. In his ''Lacan at the Scene'' (2009), Bond made contributions to theoretical psychoanalysis and forensics. In 1990, with Sarah Lucas, Bond organise ...

and

Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson ( Taylor-Wood; born 1967) is a British filmmaker. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock ...

, both of whom were involved in the

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

scene of contemporary art. It is a

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

or remaking of a well-known photographic portrait of

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

that was made by

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American Portrait photography, portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid ...

a few hours before Lennon's murder.

Production and critical reception

The photo "made a splash in the British art scene in 1993." The work was exhibited as part of the exhibition

Brilliant! ''Brilliant!'' was a group exhibition of contemporary art held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA between 22 October 1995 and 7 January 1996. It traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas, where it was ...

held at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

, Minneapolis, USA, in 1995. In his 2001 book '' High Art Lite'', art historian Julian Stallabrass states that the Bond/Taylor-Wood version offers a "reversal of gender roles" (however, the original also has Lennon and Ono in the same position). Stallabrass also states that:

"The work refers to naïve 1960s idealism, though not entirely mockingly, rather asking the viewer to contrast the situation in the 1990s with the 1960s ... for such artists, it is clear we are living in a time of the twilight of ideals."

Commenting on the photo-work in 2010, Taylor-Wood said:

The bizarre thing is that I'd completely forgotten about that piece until it was brought up in an interview ... I don't remember what drove us to make it. Must have been high concept in there somewhere, but God knows what it was. I guess there's a running interest in male vulnerability in my work, so maybe it's just that.

The authorship of this artwork has been contested with both artists, at different times, assuming control of the image and asserting origination/intellectual property; indeed, it has been suggested that the photographer that the pair hired to shoot the photograph also later claimed authorship of it.G.R. Denson,''Going Back to Start, Perpetually: Playing the Nomadic Game in the Critical Reception of Art'', in: 'Parkett', no. 40/41, 1994, p. 153. See, for example, Germano Celant (ed.) ''Sam Taylor-Wood'', Milan: Fondazione Prada, 1998, p. 33, where the image appears attributed to Taylor-Wood; whereas, in Joshua Decter (ed.) ''Don't Look Now'', New York: Thread Waxing, 1994, p. 15, the same photo appears attributed to Bond alone. The photograph is ; on 23 October 2001, the photograph was offered at an art auction held by Christie's Auctioneers as "work number five from an edition of five" and sold for $15,059.

References

External links

''Art Monthly'' article on 60s music inspired art

{{DEFAULTSORT:26 October 1993 British contemporary works of art Satirical photographs Young British Artists 1993 works 1993 in art Nude photography showing men 1990s photographs Color photographs