Mary Patten, My Courbet … or, a Beaver’s Tale, 1991-92
“In her installation My Courbet … or, a Beaver’s Tale, Mary Patten hung nine framed color photographs of women posed spread-legged in the manner of Courbet’s famous 1866 painting L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World) on walls covered with beaver-patterned wallpaper. Pattern’s installation questions the distinction between art and pornography in that she titled the images with the subjects’ names. The art world legitimized the Courbet, originally commissioned for a Turkish ambassador who was a well-known collector of erotica. Patten’s critique was reinforced by a humorous video, modeled on PBS documentaries, about lesbian representation throughout history. Combining fine-art images (including those by Courbet, Tee A. Corinne, and Judy Chicago) with ones from sex magazines and agit-prop posters, the documentary focused on how we have been represented and how we are representing ourselves.”
Harmony Hammond, Lesbian Art in America, 130
