Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden: the artist’s beginnings (2014)

Marlene Dumas (born in 1953 in Capetown, South Africa) is one of the most prominent and influential painters working today. In an era dominated by the mass media and a proliferation of images, her work is a testament to the meaning and potency of painting. Her intense, psychologically-charged works explores themes such as sexuality, love, death and guilt, often referencing art history and current affairs. Dumas often draws on her expansive visual archive for inspiration and uses the nuances of language to great effect. Her paintings and drawings are characterised by their extraordinary immediacy, expressiveness and sometimes controversial subject matter. This fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue accompanies a major exhibition at Tate Modern in 2015, curated by Tate, the Stendelijk Museum and the Fondation Beyeler in close collaboration with the artist. It will provide a survey of the artist’s remarkable oeuvre from the mid-70s to the present day. It will include over 100 artworks displaying her most important paintings and drawings alongside lesser-known works from the early period of her career. Essays from a wide range of contributors will examine the key themes and motifs in her work and will reflect on Dumas’ entire career.