Lorna Simpson

(American, born 1960)

Lorna Simpson is an American artist best known for her black-and-white photographs and works on paper—both of which explore the interplay between historical memory, culture, and identity. Often associated with postcolonial and feminist critique, Simpson’s work seeks to explicate the ways in which race and gender shape human interactions, specifically in the United States, through the medium of portraiture. “I do not feel as though issues of identity are exhaustible,” the artist has said. “I feel that my critique of identity, which in the past work may be the most obvious, becomes the foreground or recedes given the structures of the text or the type of narrative that I impose on the work.” In her most famous work Stereo Styles (1988), she explores the way in which identity is externally projected, displaying 10 images of an African American woman in different hairstyles alongside text that reads “Sweet,” “Ageless,” and “Magnetic.” Born in 1960 in Brooklyn, NY, Simpson studied photography at School of Visual Arts in New York and received an MFA from the University of California at San Diego, where she studied under Allan Kaprow and Eleanor Antin. In 1986, she received critical attention for her photographic series Twenty Questions (A Sampler), which evaluated the importance of image in contemporary society. In 2007, she was the subject of the retrospective titled “Lorna Simpson” at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and she first exhibited paintings in 2015. Simpson lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She was married to fellow artist James Casebere from 2007 to 2018. Today, her works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Miami Art Museum, among others.

Lorna Simpson Artworks

Lorna Simpson (245 results)
III, 1990

Lorna Simpson

III, 1990

Sale Date: March 1, 2017

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008

Sale Date: December 3, 2016

Auction Closed

Interior/Exterior, Full/Empty No. 17, 1997

Lorna Simpson

Interior/Exterior, Full/Empty No. 17, 1997

Sale Date: December 8, 2016

Auction Closed

Square Deal, 1990

Lorna Simpson

Square Deal, 1990

Sale Date: November 25, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled (Wishbone), 1993

Lorna Simpson

Untitled (Wishbone), 1993

Sale Date: September 11, 2016

Auction Closed

C-Rations, 1991

Lorna Simpson

C-Rations, 1991

Sale Date: September 11, 2016

Auction Closed

15 Mouths, 2002

Lorna Simpson

15 Mouths, 2002

Sale Date: June 18, 2016

Auction Closed

Lower Region, 1992

Lorna Simpson

Lower Region, 1992

Sale Date: April 4, 2016

Auction Closed

III, 1990

Lorna Simpson

III, 1990

Sale Date: December 15, 2015

Auction Closed

Practical Joke (In Two Parts), 1992

Lorna Simpson

Practical Joke (In Two Parts), 1992

Sale Date: May 21, 2015

Auction Closed

Condensation (+ Composed Blue; 2 works), 2013

Lorna Simpson

Condensation (+ Composed Blue; 2 works), 2013

Sale Date: November 14, 2014

Auction Closed

Double negative (4 works), 1990

Lorna Simpson

Double negative (4 works), 1990

Sale Date: November 14, 2014

Auction Closed

Call Waiting (No. 8), 1997

Lorna Simpson

Call Waiting (No. 8), 1997

Sale Date: October 29, 2014

Auction Closed

Shoe Lover (3 works), 1992

Lorna Simpson

Shoe Lover (3 works), 1992

Sale Date: October 29, 2014

Auction Closed

Details (portfolio of 21), 1996

Lorna Simpson

Details (portfolio of 21), 1996

Sale Date: September 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Nervous Conditions (2 works), 1992

Lorna Simpson

Nervous Conditions (2 works), 1992

Sale Date: June 10, 2014

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008

Sale Date: April 17, 2014

Auction Closed

Lower Region (triptych), 1992

Lorna Simpson

Lower Region (triptych), 1992

Sale Date: April 1, 2014

Auction Closed

Going Grey, 2013

Lorna Simpson

Going Grey, 2013

Sale Date: March 6, 2014

Auction Closed

Counting, 1991

Lorna Simpson

Counting, 1991

Sale Date: February 27, 2014

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008

Sale Date: November 29, 2013

Auction Closed

C-Rations, 1991

Lorna Simpson

C-Rations, 1991

Sale Date: November 7, 2013

Auction Closed

Lower Region (triptych), 1992

Lorna Simpson

Lower Region (triptych), 1992

Sale Date: November 19, 2013

Auction Closed

9 Props (complete set of 9), 1995

Lorna Simpson

9 Props (complete set of 9), 1995

Sale Date: October 28, 2013

Auction Closed