{"product_id":"the-house-of-martha-and-mary","title":"The House of Martha and Mary","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe House of Martha and Mary, 1993\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBronze, edition of 6\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e35 × 46 × 34 cm\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCast by Ken Cook\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the work\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe House of Martha and Mary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was made in 1993 and takes its title and imagery from Diego Velázquez’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChrist in the House of Martha and Mary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, probably painted in 1618 and now in the National Gallery, London.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRather than reproducing Velázquez’s figures or biblical narrative, Burns brings the objects of his extraordinary foreground still life into three dimensions. The \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eplate of fish, garlic, red pepper and earthenware jug\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e become the protagonists of the sculpture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Velázquez’s painting, these humble kitchen objects occupy much of the foreground, while the biblical encounter between Christ, Martha and Mary appears at the back of the composition. The National Gallery describes the foreground as an everyday kitchen scene containing fish, garlic, a shrivelled red pepper and an earthenware jug, probably containing olive oil.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBurns isolates these objects from the painting and reconstructs them in bronze. What was painted still life becomes sculpture: objects that can be walked around and encountered physically. The transformation also plays with the traditional hierarchy between subject and setting. In Velázquez, the apparently ordinary objects of domestic labour dominate the foreground while the sacred narrative is displaced into the distance; in Burns’s sculpture, the figures disappear altogether and the objects themselves carry the reference.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis relationship between everyday life, food, domestic objects and art history became an important strand in Burns’s sculpture of the 1990s. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe House of Martha and Mary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e belongs to a wider body of work in which objects and motifs drawn from historical painting were remade as independent sculptures, allowing a detail from an earlier work of art to acquire a new life and meaning.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eArt-historical reference\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe source is \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDiego Velázquez, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChrist in the House of Martha and Mary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, probably 1618, National Gallery, London, NG1375\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The painting measures 60 × 103.5 cm and was bequeathed to the National Gallery by Sir William H. Gregory in 1892.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe connection is unusually precise: the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003efish, garlic, pepper and jug\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e in Burns’s bronze correspond directly to objects occupying Velázquez’s kitchen foreground. The National Gallery itself emphasises the unusual way Velázquez combines an everyday kitchen scene with the biblical story of Martha and Mary.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDocumented exhibition history\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eDelaney Gallery, Perth\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — documented in an installation photograph, with the sculpture visible on the front central plinth.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eChristine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne, 1996\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStephanie Burns (McDonald)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 21 September–17 October 1996.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003ePangolin London, 2022\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKen Cook: Out of the Workshop\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eClassic Yass and Yass Arts Trail\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 2010 \u0026amp; 2011 Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, NSW, Australia \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eLos Angeles, 2018\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eElysium Verto – Paradise is Changing\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Stephanie Fuller Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41320564686920,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0277\/9312\/9577\/files\/IMG-6631.png?v=1787138989","url":"https:\/\/stephaniefullergallery.com\/products\/the-house-of-martha-and-mary","provider":"Stephanie Fuller Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}