Cabbage Worship

Artist Gilbert & George British, Gilbert born Italy 1943, George born 1942

Date1982

MediumHand-colored gelatin-silver prints

Dimensions118 3/4 x 120 in. (301.6 x 304.8 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Madeleine Johnson Heidrick Bequest

Object number84.5

On View

Not on view

Label TextGilbert and George have been artistic collaborators for over fifty years, since they first met in 1967. In their words, “We are two people, but one artist.” They see every aspect of their lives together as a work of art and describe themselves as “living sculptures.” They are known for their large-scale, multi-panel photo compositions, which often incorporate self-portraits. In this work Gilbert’s portrait appears at the top and George at the bottom.

Cabbage Worship, with its heavy black outlines and bright colors suggesting a stained-glass window, is from their series, Modern Faith, which focuses on spiritual crises, including religious cults. Here they present the object of devotion as a head of cabbage, humorously highlighting how people sometimes place faith in questionable causes.
[L.Dougherty, 2023]
Published References"Recent Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1984-85), discussed and illus. (b-w) 11.

"Principales Acquisitions des Musees en 1984," La Chronique des Arts, Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 1394 (March 1985), 47, illus. no. 269.

Max Halperen, "Viewing old friends in a new light at Museum of Art," Raleigh: The News and Observer (September 8, 1991), 3H, illus. 1H.

H. P. [Huston Paschal], "Rethinking Familiar Images," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Autumn 1991), mentioned 5.

H. H. Arnason, History of Modern Art, 3rd ed. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.), 596, illus. (color) pl. 264.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 286.

Huston Paschal, entry for Cabbage Worship, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 246, illus. (color).

Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures, 1971-2005 (New York: Aperture Foundation, 2007), vol. 1, illus. (color) 430.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Gilbert & George / Richard Long," June 9-September 9, 1984, brochure.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Paintings with a Social Conscience," February 7-July 5, 1987.

Savannah, GA, Telfair Museum of Art's Jepson Center for the Arts, "Fast Forward: Three Decades of Contemporary Art from the North Carolina Museum of Art," January 23-April 27, 2008

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 3, 2023-September 3, 2024. Object Rights Statement

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