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 News

A New Survey of Black Portraiture Rewrites the Art Historical Canon

by Jo Lawson-Tancred

A New Survey of Black Portraiture Rewrites the Art Historical Canon

L.A. Collector Eileen Harris Norton on a Lifetime Spent Championing Artists of Color

L.A. Collector Eileen Harris Norton on a Lifetime Spent Championing Artists of Color

Museums & Institutions

What Goes on Behind the Scenes at a Guggenheim Show? These Eye-Opening Polaroids Photos Offer a Rare Peek

What Goes on Behind the Scenes at a Guggenheim Show? These Eye-Opening Polaroids Photos Offer a Rare Peek

Lorna Simpson Artworks

Lorna Simpson (228 results)

REDD, 2013

Lorna Simpson

Sale Date: April 24, 2024

Auction Closed

FRAME TALE, 2013

Lorna Simpson

FRAME TALE, 2013

Sale Date: April 24, 2024

Auction Closed

BLUE IN FUR, 2013

Lorna Simpson

BLUE IN FUR, 2013

Sale Date: April 24, 2024

Auction Closed

Backdrops circa 1940s., 1998

Lorna Simpson

Backdrops circa 1940s., 1998

Sale Date: April 4, 2024

Auction Closed

Untitled., 1995

Lorna Simpson

Untitled., 1995

Sale Date: April 4, 2024

Auction Closed

'III', 1994

Lorna Simpson

Sale Date: March 30, 2024

Auction Closed

Corridor (Bulb), 2003

Lorna Simpson

Corridor (Bulb), 2003

Sale Date: February 17, 2024

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008

Sale Date: February 17, 2024

Auction Closed

III, 1994

Lorna Simpson

Sale Date: February 7, 2024

Auction Closed

III (Peter Norton Family Christmas Project), 1994

Lorna Simpson

III (Peter Norton Family Christmas Project), 1994

Sale Date: December 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1995

Lorna Simpson

Untitled, 1995

Sale Date: December 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008

Sale Date: December 2, 2023

Auction Closed

The Park, 1995

Lorna Simpson

The Park, 1995

Sale Date: November 9, 2023

Auction Closed

C-Ration, 1991

Lorna Simpson

C-Ration, 1991

Sale Date: October 26, 2023

Auction Closed

Corridor (Stairs), 2003

Lorna Simpson

Corridor (Stairs), 2003

Sale Date: October 5, 2023

Auction Closed

III (Peter Norton Family Christmas Project), 1994

Lorna Simpson

III (Peter Norton Family Christmas Project), 1994

Sale Date: September 27, 2023

Auction Closed

Notations, 2008, 2008

Lorna Simpson

Notations, 2008, 2008

Sale Date: July 13, 2023

Auction Closed

III (Peter Norton Christmas Project)., 1994

Lorna Simpson

III (Peter Norton Christmas Project)., 1994

Sale Date: June 8, 2023

Auction Closed

Counting, 1991

Lorna Simpson

Counting, 1991

Sale Date: April 20, 2023

Auction Closed

Square Deal, 1990

Lorna Simpson

Square Deal, 1990

Sale Date: April 5, 2023

Auction Closed

'III,' 1994, 1994

Lorna Simpson

'III,' 1994, 1994

Sale Date: March 25, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1995, 1995

Lorna Simpson

Untitled, 1995, 1995

Sale Date: January 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Cure/Heal (from the portfolio 10 Artists as , 1992

Lorna Simpson

Cure/Heal (from the portfolio 10 Artists as , 1992

Sale Date: December 13, 2022

Auction Closed

untitled, 1995

Lorna Simpson

untitled, 1995

Sale Date: November 19, 2022

Auction Closed

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English (US)

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