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Containing Multitudes: Anne Minich's Head Series, 1974 - 2023

In 1974, Anne Minich (b. 1934) crossed the country and found herself sitting in the kitchen of a Berkeley apartment, covered with a towel, while photographer William Bruce Hale proceeded to shave her head and document the results at her request.

This radical act of depersonalization emphasized a break with social norms, while her bare head announced political and personal agency. Its shape rendered in silhouette became both ungendered and ageless, and was subsequently introduced by the artist into a series of works - loosely referred to as ‘The Head Series’ - over the course of the next 49 years.

Featuring loans from institutions and private collections alongside works never-before seen, Containing Multitudes: Anne Minich’s Head Series, 1974 - 2023 at Commonweal assembles for the first time thirty-two original works from this introspective and enigmatic series. Heavily autobiographical, each work documents critical moments of personal and professional development in Minich’s life.

The silhouette of her head creates space for the audience to project themselves upon her straightforward, yet idiosyncratic, compositions. Together, these works chronicle the complex experiences that have come to be her guiding lights, while more widely hinting at the shadows cast by personal adversities she has faced as an artist, a woman, a mother and a friend.

Title: Coral Gables Kitchen Portrait

Size: 24 x 20.25 x 1.5 in.

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Year: 1968

Price: Please Contact Gallery

Title: Coral Gables Kitchen Portrait

Size: 24 x 20.25 x 1.5 in.

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Year: 1968

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: AQUA BRIDE

Size: 30 x 40 in.

Medium: Graphite on paper

Year: 1974

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Judas Judged, Maria Martyred: An Arranged Marriage

Size: 21.5 x 41.5 x 1.875 in.

Medium: Brass Nails, Graphite, Glass Eye and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 1991

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Our Lady of the Ancient Envy

Size: 32.5 x 21.5 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Found Objects and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 1991

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Image of a Nursery Rhyme

Size: 21 x 45.625 x 2 in.

Medium: Graphite, Oil Paint, Shell and Wood

Year: 1992

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Sisters

Size: 7.25 x 15.25 x 2.125 in

Medium: Oil Paint, Shells and X-Acto Blades on Wood

Year: 1992

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Observant Son

Size: 14.75 x 21.75 in.

Medium: Colored Pencil and Graphite on Paper

Year: 1993

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Our Lady of Rainbow in Bottled Aire (SAD)

Size: 18 x 24 x 3.5 in.

Medium: Found Material and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 1994

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Empty Tomb

Size: 25.25 x 25.25 x 1.875 in.

Medium: Ceramic Shard, Graphite and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 1995

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Executive and The Maiden

Size: 21.25 x 45.75 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Ceramic shard, Oil Paint, Rusted Metal on Wood

Year: 1995

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Our Lady of the Blessed Wound

Size: 18 x 14 x 3.25 in.

Medium: Copper, Found Object and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 1996

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: An American Icon (Our Lady of Francisville, Barbara Jean)

Size: 25.5 x 25.5 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Oil paint and Shells on Wood

Year: 1998

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Spring Break

Size: 23.75 x 19.25 in.

Medium: Gouache and Graphite on Paper

Year: 1998

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Dark Mother

Size: 22.875 x 19.25 x 1.875 in.

Medium: Oil Paint and Shells on Wood

Year: 1999

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Woman of Three Houses

Size: 27 x 22.5 x 2 in.

Medium: Copper, Graphite, Oil Paint and Stone on Wood

Year: 1999

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Silence

Size: 29 x 31 x 2 in.

Medium: Oil Paint, Shells and Stone on Wood

Year: 2001

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: The Poet's Prayer

Size: 29 x 34.25 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Oil Paint, Press Type Letters and Shells on Wood

Year: 2001

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Jaune Brilliant

Size: 25.5 x 26.25 x 2 in.

Medium: Graphite and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2001

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Ancient Secrets

Size: 21.5 x 16.5 x 2.125 in.

Medium: Found Objects, Shell and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2002

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Judas Head

Size: 25.5 x 25.25 x 2.125 in.

Medium: Oil Paint and Shell Shards on Wood

Year: 2003

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Anne Emlen Towards 70

Size: 25.25 x 25.25 x 2.5 in.

Medium: Ceramic Shards and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2003

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Shoulder Wound

Size: 25.25 x 25.25 x 1.875 in.

Medium: Oil Paint, Shell and Stones on Wood

Year: 2005

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Sore Spirit

Size: 24.75 x 24.75 x 1.5 in.

Medium: Oil Paint and Stones on Wood

Year: 2005

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: For RTC In Philadelphia

Size: 26 x 23 x 4 in.

Medium: Oil on Wood with Shells and Found Materials

Year: 2015

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Annunciation in NYC

Size: 27 x 25 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Graphite, Metal Shard, Shells and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2016

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Her Demons

Size: 25.5 x 26.5 in.

Medium: Graphite on Paper

Year: 2019

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: The Object Poet

Size: 26 x 26 x 2.5 in.

Medium: Found Objects and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2019

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Her

Size: 25.25 x 22.25 in.

Medium: Colored Pencil, Gouache and Graphite on Rag Paper

Year: 2020

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Lady Veep

Size: 26 x 18 x 4.75 in.

Medium: Drift Wood, Found Objects, Fruit Pits, Metal Rod and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2020

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Margo's Gift

Size: 26 x 26 x 2.75 in

Medium: Found Objects and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2020

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Bonehead

Size: 26 x 26 x 2.125 in.

Medium: Bone, Found Materials and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2022

Price: Please Contact Gallery
Title: Bitch/Saint

Size: 10.5 x 13 x 2.25 in.

Medium: Found Objects, Nails and Oil Paint on Wood

Year: 2023

Price: $8000.—