Translations
Between 1959 and 1976 Jess worked on a series of thirty-two “Translations,” faithful reproductions in oil paint of a variety of found images including engravings, photographs, artworks and illustrations. Each work includes fragments of literary text, either integrated into the painting or written on the back.
Ex. 1 – Laying a Standard: Translation #1
1959, oil on canvas, 23.5 x 15 inches, Tibor de Nagy Gallery
Montana Xibalba: Translation #2
1963, oil on canvas on wood, 30 x 33 inches, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Ex. 2 – Crito’s Socrates: Translation #3
1964, oil on canvas on wood, 18 x 25 inches
Ex. 3 — Fionn’s Finnegas: Translation #4
1964, oil on canvas on wood, 25 x 20 inches
The Enamord Mage: Translation #6
1965, oil on canvas on wood, 24 1/2 x 30 inches, The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
In Praise of Sir Edward: Translation #7
1965, oil on canvas on wood, 28 x 18 inches
Fig. 2 – A Field Of Pumpkins Grown For Seed: Translation #11
1965, oil on canvas on wood, 29.5 x 36 inches, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Ex. 6 — No Traveller’s Borne: Translation #13
1965, oil on canvas, mounted on panel, 36.25 x 29.25 inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with the Edith H. Bell Fund, 1979
Fig.4 – Far And Few…: Translation #15
1965, oil on canvas on wood; 17 15/16 x 26 1/4 inches, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mrs. Manfred Bransten Special Fund Purchase
Fig. 1 — A ? Year’s Darling Of A Pig My Size!: Translation #20
1968, oil on canvas on wood, 23 x 24 inches
Will Wonders Never Cease: Translation #21
1969, oil on canvas mounted on wood panel, 21 x 28 1/8 inches, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, 1986, Photograph by Lee Stalsworth