Real Doll, Raquel 1
Martine Gutierrez, American, born 1989
2013
Archival inkjet print
8/10
Image: 8 × 12 1/16 in. (20.3 × 30.6 cm)
Sheet: 12 × 16 1/16 in. (30.5 × 40.8 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hazen, by exchange
2014.25.1
Portfolio / Series Title
Real Dolls
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Inscriptions
Initialled, on reverse, lower right, in graphite: MG; numbered, on reverse, lower left, in graphite: 8/10
Label
Upon first inspection, this photograph appears to depict a white sex doll, dressed in black lingerie, lying across a bed. Her gaze averted, she seems to have less agency than the green-skinned woman in the painting in the background. The doll is played by artist Martíne Gutierrez, a transgender woman, who practiced until she could mimic a doll’s vacant stare. "The eyes especially were so challenging," she recalls, "trying to exude something that’s lifelike but isn’t at the same time." Transforming herself in to an inanimate object, Gutierrez navigates the blurred lines between real and artificial, woman and object. The artist states: Society perpetuates rigid constructs—fabricated dichotomies like "male" vs. "female," "gay" vs. "straight," "minority" vs. "white," "reality" vs. "fantasy," "dominant" vs. "submissive," etc. But our interpretation of these constructs is subjective and not immutable. Reality, like gender, is ambiguous because it exists fluidly. From the 2019 exhibition All Dolled Up, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvery P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming
Course History
WGST 65.6, Radical Sexuality: Of Color, Wildness and Fabulosity, Eng-Beng Lim, Winter 2015
WRIT 5, Visual Culture, Aimee Bahng, Winter 2015
WRIT 8, Writing with Media, Kenneth Bauer, Spring 2015
Exhibition History
About Face: Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 23-August 30, 2015.
All Dolled Up, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 11-August 11, 2019.
Provenance
Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2014.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu