The Management Team
Artist
Sibley, Charles
(American, 1921 - 2005)
Dateca. 1975
OriginUnited States of America
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOther: 60 1/2 × 60 1/2 in. (153.7 × 153.7 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Connie and Marc Jacobson
Object number2018.24
Label TextCharles Kenneth Sibley, (American, 1921–2005)
The Management Team
Oil on canvas, 1975
Gift of Connie and Marc Jacobson
Charles Sibley, a founding professor of the ODU art department, served the university from the 1950s to 1989. His expressive, modernist style often melded historical references with an unmistakable sense of humor that both softened and sharpened his criticism of contemporary society. Here, he employs a popular 18th-century visual art genre called “singeries,” (French: singe, meaning monkey) that uses monkeys and other animals as stand-ins to highlight the foibles of human behavior. A self-important male monkey focuses his attention with determined, furrowed brow on a matter outside the picture frame. A group of apprehensive cats that look both at the source for his concern as well as his anticipated reaction buttresses his presence. It is a wry comment on the timid obedience and empty posing underlying contemporary management structures.
Status
Not on view
Buttersworth, Thomas
ca. 1835
