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David McGee , b. 1962

Corporate Girl / Side B

1997
96 in. x 99 in. (243.84 cm x 251.46 cm)

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Partial gift of John Axelrod (PA 1964) and museum purchase

Accession Number: 2000.17

Commentary

Dramatic in scale and loaded with historical association, McGee’s painting Corporate Girl/Side B is a deftly painted, multi-layered image of an African American woman who is presented in elaborate garb that alludes to the 17th-century portrait of the Infanta Margarita Teresa by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. In McGee’s painting, the subject’s face is obscured by tribal paint and she is armed with boxing gloves. As one reviewer has noted, “The works may look like court paintings but they act like unruly political satire.” McGee pays homage to old master paintings while subverting these traditions with commentary on the challenges that contemporary African Americans confront. Inspired by a friend’s morning makeup ritual, in Corporate Girl/Side B the artist has transformed the subject into a warrior, readying herself for the corporate battlefield many women face.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Déjà Vu: Reworking the Past Katonah Museum of Art , 1/16/2000 - 4/2/2000
New Work: Recent Additions to the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/21/2001 - 7/31/2001
Art, Artists, and the Addison: Building a Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 3/30/2004 - 7/31/2004
Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
One Thing Leads to Another…Selections from the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/30/2016 - 3/20/2016
The Body: Concealing and Revealing Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/1/2018 - 3/31/2019
Past Is Prologue: History in Contemporary Art Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/16/2022 - 7/31/2022

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