Holding Tight
Artist
Catherine McCarthy
(American, born 1955)
Date1998
Mediumoil and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions152.4 x 203.2 cm (60 x 80 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Irwin E. Thompson
Object number2012.91
Label TextThe paintings of Boston-based Catherine McCarthy are composite narratives that re-contextualize images and texts from world history, art history, and her personal history. In Holding Tight, her virtuosic paint handling unites disparate elements and moments in time into a layered and mysterious whole. Careful looking and reading suggests a traumatic subject. “SAVING MY SISTER XXV YEARS LATER,” inscribed upon a ribbon that wraps around two Renaissance-inspired flowers (surrogates for two sisters?), sets the stage.
McCarthy recreates a 19th-century American seascape of darkness and turbulence. Below it are graphic illustrations of boats too small to weather those seas. Aurally related words (beginning with the letter “s”) hint at possible additional associations: “ship”…“she”… “seek”…“sis.” Barely legible phrases delivered in a delicate cursive script further the painting’s diaristic character: “Hold…my sister full of confidence…I will save us.”
ProvenanceIrwin E. Thompson, Newton, MAOn View
Not on view
