Sharon Core (born 1965) is an American artist and photographer. Core first gained recognition with her ''Thiebauds'' series (2003-4) in which she created photographic interpretations of American painter

Wayne Thiebaud Wayne Thiebaud ( ; born Morton Wayne Thiebaud; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot d ...

's renderings of food. Two of her works in the ''Thiebauds'' series, ''Candy Counter 1969'' (2004) and ''Confections'' (2005) were acquired by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2005.

Early life and education

Core was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in 1965. She received a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

in 1987 from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

from the Yale University School of Art in 1998, which is where she received the George Sakier Memorial Prize for Excellence in Photography.

Career

After studying painting at the University of Georgia, Core moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. She then settled in Prague in 1993, where she first practiced photography seriously and created a baking business based in her own apartment. In 1996, she returned to the United States to attend the Yale University School of Art. For her thesis project, which was centered around the ritual of eating, she photographed people consuming their favorite foods. This project led to her early series, ''Drunk'' (1998–2000), in which she captured portraits of intoxicated guests at a party she organized as well as those she found at local gatherings. Her next series, ''Early American'' (2007–2010), remodeled the

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s of 18th century American painter

Raphaelle Peale Raphaelle Peale (sometimes spelled Raphael Peale; February 17, 1774 – March 4, 1825) is considered the first professional American painter of still-life. Biography Peale was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the fifth child, though eldest survivin ...

. Similar to the photographs of ''Thiebauds,'' Core again focused on the idea of process, growing the early 19th century produce in Peale's paintings in her greenhouse and collecting period dish ware. She also painted the walls in the backdrop of the photographs to echo Peale's painting techniques. These works were on view at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York City from October 23 to December 6, 2008. Core's project ''1606-1907'' (2011–2015) explored three centuries of flower paintings. For her subsequent project "Understory" (2015), Core takes inspiration from the seventeenth-century Sottobosco tradition of Dutch paintings of forest floors. According to a description in The New Yorker, "Core's new pictures revel in decay and wildness. Snails slither across bright, wet leaves; pink flowers collapse in a pile of petals; a toad peers from the shadows, camouflaged in the dirt."

Copyright

In her series ''Thiebauds'' (2003–2005), Core recreated 18 of Wayne Thiebaud's food paintings of the 1960s. She was inspired upon viewing Thiebaud's

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

in 2001. In 2004, Robert Panzer, then executive director of the Visual Artists and Galleries Association (the copyright collective that represented Thiebaud at the time), told the ''New York Times'' "Wayne Thiebaud is concerned with the use that Sharon Core has made of his work...The reproductions she has made are largely straightforward versions of his paintings." Thiebaud responded to Panzer's remarks to the press by sending Core a letter praising her photographs and refuting Panzer's claims that Thiebaud was "concerned."

Personal life

Core lives and works in

Esopus, New York Esopus ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 9,548 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town was named afte ...

Exhibitions

Core has presented solo exhibitions at spaces across the U.S.: * ''White Room Exhibition,''

White Columns White Columns is New York City's oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted i ...

, New York (2000) * ''Sharon Core: Photographs'', Clementine Gallery, New York (2001) * ''Thiebauds,'' Bellwether Gallery, New York (2004) * ''Early American'', Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York (2008), * James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2009), * Hermes Foundation, New York (2009), *

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. It was founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the United ...

, Savannah, Georgia (2009) * Project Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York (2010) * ''1606-1907,'' Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York (2011) * ''Still Lives: Early Works by Sharon Core,''

Mint Museum The Mint Museum, also referred to as The Mint Museums, is a cultural institution comprising two museums, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, together these two locations have hundreds of collecti ...

, Charlotte, North Carolina (2013) * ''Understory,'' Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York (2016)

Selected collections

Core's works have also been purchased by various institutions: * Alturas Foundation, San Antonio, Texas *

Amon Carter Museum The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (also known as the Carter) is located in Fort Worth, Texas, in the city's cultural district. The museum's permanent collection features paintings, photography, sculpture, and works on paper by leading arti ...

, Fort Worth, Texas *

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

, Cleveland, Ohio *

Columbus Museum The Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia, was founded in 1953. It contains many artifacts on both American art and regional history, displayed in both its permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

, Los Angeles, California * Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico *

Montclair Art Museum The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is located in Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey and holds a collection of over 12,000 objects showcasing American and Native North American art. Through its public programs, art classes, and exhibitions, MAM ...

, Montclair, New Jersey *

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington, DC *

Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is an art museum in West Palm Beach, Florida. The museum has a collection that includes over 8,200 works, with a concentration in Western art history, European, Visual arts of the United States, American, and Chinese art ...

, West Palm Beach, Florida *

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughli ...

, Washington, DC *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

, Princeton, New Jersey * Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, State University of New York, New Paltz, New York *

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, New York, New York * The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina * The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. * The Norton Collection, New York, New York * The West Collection, SEI, Oaks Park, Pennsylvania * The Zabludowicz Collection, London England, Sarvisalo, Finland, New York, New York * University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA *

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

, New Haven, CT

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Core, Sharon American women photographers American contemporary artists 1965 births Living people 20th-century American photographers 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women artists Artists from New Orleans Photographers from Louisiana University of Georgia alumni Yale School of Art alumni People from Esopus, New York