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Figurative


Image of Portrait of Bertolt Brecht

Portrait of Bertolt Brecht
Drawing

1982
42 x 29 in. (106.68 x 73.66 cm)

Rupert Garcia (French Camp, California, 1941 - )

Object Type: Drawing
Medium and Support: Pastel on paper
Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Peter Selz and Carole Selz
Accession Number: 2004.38

Exhibition


Artists in Residence: San Jose’s 20th-Century Vanguard
, March 11, 2016 - September 18, 2016, New Wing, Second Floor, South Metro A Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Bookish, September 25, 2011 - January 15, 2012, 2nd Floor, South Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection
, July 30, 2007 - September 9, 2007, San José Museum of Art.

SJMA Label Text


Artists in Residence: San Jose's 20th Century Vanguard (2016)

Over the course of his artistic career, Rupert Garcia has employed complex and compelling images to address a variety of moral, aesthetic, and spiritual dilemmas. An active participant in the Chicano movement in the 1960s he made posters, prints, and paintings that often addressed the racism and inequality endured by many ethnic minorities. Garcia’s subversive use of iconic imagery calls into question the underlying ideological structures of American society and gives voice to disenfranchised people around the world.

In 1982, Garcia painted prominent German director and playwright Bertolt Brecht. A Marxist, Brecht developed “epic theater,” a form of theater that encourages audiences to resist the illusion induced by stage performance. In the early 1940s, Brecht traveled to Los Angeles and tried unsuccessfully to write Hollywood film scripts. After being accused, then acquitted, of un-American activities in 1947, he fled abruptly to Switzerland. Garcia’s portrait of Brecht is based on a widely circulated image of the writer. His sensitive treatment of Brecht’s intense and thoughtful gaze signals the artist’s profound admiration for the man.

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Dimensions
  • Image Dimensions: 42 x 29 in. (106.68 x 73.66 cm)

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