Iago's Mirror by Fred Wilson in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Iago's Mirror
Fred Wilson (American, born in 1954)
2009

Medium/Technique: Murano glass, plywood, metal pins and hardware

Dimensions: 80x 48 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. (203.2x123.8x26.7 cm)

Credit Line: John and Ernestine Payne Fund and The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection

Accession Number: 2011.235

Collections: Contemporary Art, Americas

Classifications: Glass

Iago’s Mirror reflects Shakespeare’s Othello, the story of a black, Muslim military commander tragically undone by his soldier Iago’s racist manipulations. Working with Venetian glassmakers, Wilson reimagines the concept of a mirror by piling mirrors atop one another, and reverses centuries of tradition by painting the glass’s flip side black rather than silver. The result is an ominous symbol of the tensions that drive Shakespeare’s own Venetian tale.

Description: Edition 6 of 6 + 2 AP +1 bon a tirer

Provenance: Sold by the artist to The Pace Gallery, New York; 2011, sold by Pace Gallery to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 22, 2011)

Copyright© Fred Wilson 2009.


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/552622/iagos-mirror