Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–5 public

Fuck You: from the Liz Taylor Series (after Bert Stern)

A work made of acrylic and composition leaf on canvas.

Image actions

  • A work made of acrylic and composition leaf on canvas.

Date:

1984

Artist:

Kathe Burkhart
American, born 1958

About this artwork

Kathe Burkhart is an artist and writer who uses images and text to, in her words, “articulate a radical female subject.” She considers this confrontational, sensual work to be the first fully realized canvas in her Liz Taylor Series, ongoing since 1982. The series of large-scale, richly saturated paintings combines appropriated portraits of actress Elizabeth Taylor (here, a shot of her as Cleopatra, taken by Bert Stern for Vogue magazine in 1962) with profane language, shattering both female stereotypes and conventions of representation. Taylor was a controversial feminist figure throughout her career, conveying equal parts bravura, sexual power, and vulnerability. Burkhart—collapsing the genres of portraiture and self-portraiture—treated the actress as a surrogate figure
for her own life in the diary-like narrative series.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Kathe Burkhart

Title

Fuck You: from the Liz Taylor Series (after Bert Stern)

Place

United States (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1984

Medium

Acrylic and composition leaf on canvas

Dimensions

182.8 × 121.9 cm (72 × 48 in.)

Credit Line

Contemporary Art Discretionary Fund

Reference Number

2016.324

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share