Artwork Details
Artist
Creation Date
Materials
Object Types
Dimensions
24-3/4 x 40-1/2 x 7 in.
Accession Number
Credit Line
Dan and Lori Efroymson Fund, acquired through Art for Today 2002, an exhibition organized by the Contemporary Art Society
Copyright
Collection
Color Palette
Provenance
Artist as represented by the (James Cohen Gallery, New York, New York); purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2001.
Gallery Labels
For The Quintet of the Silent, Bill Viola assembled five actors in a composition that recalls a Renaissance painting. He instructed the performers "to show pressure, tension, and stress in a general arc of emotion as it enters, manifests, and leaves the body." Viola filmed their interpretation of this instruction in one minute in real time, but the final work is stretched over a fifteen-minute continuous loop.
Since Bill Viola became a pioneer of video art in the 1970s, he has often referred to spirituality in his art. During a yearlong residency at the Getty Research Institute in California in 1998, Viola studied the passions in medieval and Renaissance art. Two years later, Viola began a series focusing on extremes of human emotion that included The Quintet of the Silent. This work is presented without sound, isolating the nuanced progression of facial expressions within a wave of emotional intensity.
More from the Collection
Content Disclaimer and Usage Rights
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.
4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 46208-3326 | 317-923-1331
Copyright © 2024 Newfields. All rights reserved.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-251861-OMS-22].