Dana Schutz “Open Casket”
There always seems to be some excitement/controversy surrounding the Whitney Biennial. This year it revolves around Dana Schutz’s painting Open Casket which was inspired by: a photograph of 14-year-old Emmett Till’s mutilated face snapped during his open-casket funeral in Chicago … in the fall of 1955. According to the NBC article, Emmett’s mother insisted that her son’s body be displayed in an open casket forcing the nation to see the brutality directed at blacks in the South at the time. Below are links to just two of many articles swirling around the Internet.
Source: At the Whitney Biennial, the Art World Turns on Itself
Source: Creator of Emmett Till ‘Open Casket’ at Whitney Responds to Backlash