Iago's Mirror

Artist Fred Wilson (American, born 1954)

Place of OriginNew York

Date2009

DimensionsH: 80 in. (203.2 cm); W: 48 3/4 in. (123.8 cm); Depth: 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm)

MediumBlack plate glass; mirrored, molded, tooled, cut, and assembled

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePartial gift of The Pace Gallery in honor of Georgia E. Welles and partial purchase with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2010.9

Not on View

Label TextFred Wilson’s interdisciplinary practice challenges assumptions of history, race, and culture. Designed by Wilson and made in traditional 18th-century Rococo style by Murano glassworkers in Venice, Italy, Iago’s Mirror is composed of multiple black glass mirrors layered on top of one another, which alters viewers’ reflections. The result is simultaneously beautiful and ominous. Wilson is interested in this tension and explains “People have to deal with the fact that there is meaning in beauty. There is meaning in ugliness. Beauty and ugliness are not necessarily separate… it’s not a flaw to see something beautiful and understand there’s either ugliness or meaning within its sphere.” Iago’s Mirror references Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello—a story of an African general in the Venetian outpost of Cyprus who is tragically undone by Iago, a soldier in his command, after Iago is overlooked for a promotion (many literary scholars presume Iago is white). Throughout the play, Iago’s racist resentment comes to the fore. he does not refer to Othello by name but as “the Moor,” “the devil,” or “defective.” As indicated by the title, this mirror belongs to or is for Iago, who infamously states, “I am not what I am.” Like it does for viewers, the mirror creates a distorted, obscured portrait of Iago, whose rage and bigotry distorts his soul, echoing Othello’s themes of manipulation, racial prejudice, and distorted perceptions.Published References

Berengo, Adriano, Glasstress, Milan, Charta, 2009, pp. 45, 126, 127.

"Recent Important Acquisitions," New Glass Review 32, 2011, p. 125 col. repr.

"Toledo Museum of Art Acquires Provocative Work in Glass by Fred Wilson," Urban Glass Art Quarterly no. 122, Spring 2011, p. 16 repr. (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, Peter Morrin, and Robert Bell, Color Ignited: Glass, 1962-2012, Toledo, OH, 2012, p. 96, repr. (col.) p. 100, pl. 53, (det.) p. 101.

Wilson, Fred, "The First One's Free! Drip, Drop, Plop," The Glass Art Society Journal, 2012, p. 38-39, repr. p. 40.

Drury, John. "Fred Wilson's Black Beauty" New Glass, Fall 2013, 3/13, p.36, repr. (col.) p. 36.

cf. Burkhalter, Laura, Transparencies: Contemporary Art & A History of Glass, Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center, 2013, p. 56, repr. (col.) p. 57-58.

Exhibition History

Instituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, "53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia," Glasstress, 2009.

Toledo Museum of Art, Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012, June 14-September 9, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, Shakespeare's Characters: Playing the Part, September 2, 2016-January 8, 2017.