MMoCA Unveils Mirror Image Exhibition With Over 100 Portraits

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is bringing dozens of long-hidden works back to public view through its new exhibition, Mirror Image, MMoCA reported.

The exhibition features over 100 portraits drawn exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection. More than half of these pieces have not been displayed to the public in over twenty years, and 30 of the works have never been seen on view at all.

By showcasing these specific pieces, the museum aims to trace the evolution of portraiture from the early twentieth century to the modern era. The collection moves through various shifts in how artists represent the human form and the concept of identity.

The exhibition highlights how the introduction of photography and the rise of abstraction changed the purpose of the portrait. What began as an elite method of documentation has transitioned into a conceptual approach to representing both the self and others.

The selection of artists in Mirror Image spans a wide range of styles and historical contexts. Visitors can see works by Henri Matisse, Diego Rivera, and David Hockney, among others.

The exhibition also includes pieces by Gertrude Abercrombie, Ivan Albright, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Warrington Colescott, Jim Dine, Alex Katz, Käthe Kollwitz, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum. These artists represent different movements that have shaped the way we perceive the individual through art.

The museum contextualizes these historical works against the contemporary reality of the “selfie.” In the current era, the ubiquitous nature of social media has made the act of portraiture more accessible to the general public than ever before. Despite these technological shifts, the exhibition suggests that the core purpose of the portrait remains a primary means for memorialization and engagement with others.

One specific piece included in the collection is Untitled (1987) by Fred Stonehouse, a mixed media work on paper. This piece was acquired through Arts Midwest with matching funds from the Rudolph and Louise Langer Fund.

The staging of Mirror Image relies on a diverse group of contributors and grants. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by JoAnne Robbins and David Falk, as well as the Theda and Tamblin Clark Smith Family Foundation.

Additional funding and support came from several sources, including:

Bell Laboratories
Chuck Bauer and Chuck Beckwith
A grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board, utilizing funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts
MMoCA Volunteers

The exhibition serves as a deep dive into the museum’s own holdings, utilizing the permanent collection to tell a broader story about how the human face has been interpreted across a century of shifting cultural values.