Untitled (Know nothing, Believe anything, Forget everything)

1987/2014

Barbara Kruger

Artist, American, born 1945

A grainy black and white photograph showing a close-up of a woman’s profile is overlaid with three horizontal red bands with white text at the top, center, and bottom edges of this horizontal composition. The woman seems to lie down and look up at a metal instrument, perhaps a piece of medical equipment, with a long, eye-dropper-like tube extending close to her face. Her cheeks and profile appear between the central and bottom bands of text. Lit from our left, she has dark eyebrows and eyelashes, a straight nose, and her lips are closed. She seems to have pale skin and her hair is covered by a fold of fabric, perhaps a hat. The eye we see is open and the metal instrument points to the bridge of her nose, seeming to close in on her right eye. Light colored fabric behind her could be the uniform of a person standing opposite us. The red bands have white lettering saying, “Know nothing” across the top; “Believe anything” across the center; and “Forget everything” across the bottom.

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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Video:  Barbara Kruger: In Her Own Words

This 6-minute film features works from the exhibition In the Tower: Barbara Kruger, presenting Kruger’s profile works—images of faces or figures seen in profile, over which the artist has layered attention-grabbing phrases and figures of speech.


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; purchased 17 June 2014 through (Sprüth Magers, Berlin and London) by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2016

  • In the Tower: Barbara Kruger, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016-2017, unnumbered brochure, fig. 5.

Wikidata ID

Q20197950


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