Published on the occassion of the exhibition Brontëan Abstracts, 2006 at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth.
Turner prize-nominated artist Cornelia Parker developed new work in response to the Parsonage collection, enabling Museum visitors to see the Brontës interpreted through the work of a major British artist.
Cornelia Parker was interested in exploring the underside of the Brontës' monumentality and this remarkable body of new work offered new perspectives on the myths and stereotypes that have been built around the Brontës, challenging our preconceptions about them. The Brontës' items were examined in new ways, to explore marks left unconsciously - the pin pricks in Charlotte's pin cushion, ink blots on blotting paper and the scribblings out on manuscripts - as well as microscopic views of Charlotte's quill pen and analysis conducted on samples of their hair.
Text by Deborah Levy
