Sturtevant

Sturtevant adopted a critical relationship with the art system and the concept of authorship. In the 1960s, she began making meticulous replicas, executed from memory, of canonical works by her contemporaries, artists who defined the 20th century: Warhol, Johns, Duchamp, Beuys and Gonzales-Torres. Homage or misappropriation? Bypassing copyrights, the American artist revolutionised the question of originality and signature, concepts that would become omnipresent in the art world.

To make these copies of paintings, photographs, sculptures, videos and installations, Sturtevant rigorously learned the original techniques to the point that she was able to reproduce them extremely precisely. However, some inaccuracies are present as a result of working from memory.

Four of Sturtevant's works are housed in the Pinault Collection, some of which were presented for the first time in 2011 at the "Eloge du Doute" (“In Praise of Doubt”) show at the Punta della Dogana.