Sheet c. 18th century

This ‘Sheet’ was made at an unknown date by an anonymous artist. The image presents a large expanse of white fabric, filling almost the entire frame. The starkness of the work invites contemplation. What could a sheet represent? A blank canvas, perhaps, or a tabula rasa. But a sheet also speaks to the most universal and intimate of human experiences: birth, sleep, illness, death. In the context of art history, the embrace of the everyday and the anonymous challenges the art institution's traditional emphasis on individual genius. Is this a comment on the commodification of art? Is the artist, by obscuring their identity, trying to remove art from a market-driven system? To understand this work fully, we might explore histories of textiles, social studies of domestic labor, and consider the role of anonymity in artistic movements. By looking at the social and institutional contexts, we come to see the power of art to question the values of its own time.