of fresh, glowing images that the artist
arrived at after intense study of color and
how it can be used. Indeed, abstract artists
work every bit as hard as realist painters at
understanding the tools of their trade.
Work by artists like Willie Cole command
our attention in wholly different ways.
Cole’s triptych, Man, Spirit, Mask, is
dramatic in its confrontation of the
viewer. The face on the left is ?rm and
un?inching, proud and prominent. At the
triptych’s center is a red-hot iron shop,
suggesting heat and pressure, perhaps even
pain. Finally, there is the mask. The very
title of this refers to the famous poem by
African-American poet Paul Laurence
Dunbar, We Wear the Mask, which,
written in the past, nonetheless interprets
Cole’s work in the present:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Pat Steir, American, born 1940, Small Sea, 2006. oil on canvas
A Gift of The Herbert and Dorothy Vogel Collection. CMA 2012.3.567
Long-time members of the CMA can ?nd
old friends on the walls, including works
by Jasper Johns, Howard Thomas, Sally
Mann and Edward Ruscha, whose famous
6
columbiamuseum.org
image of the Hollywood Hills has become
a staple of the art world. Indeed, Modern
& Contemporary from the Collection offers
experiences both serious and sensual,
designed to both entertain and enlighten.
Willie Cole, American, born 1955, Man, Spirit, Mask, 1999, mixed media. Fiftieth Anniversary Acquisition, Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs.
Benjamin Gimarc, Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Kennedy, Jr., the Anna Heyward Taylor Purchase Fund, and Lynette and Allard Allston and Family. CMA 2000.24 a-c