Lightness of Being
Lightness of Being, Chris Levine's unconventional portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with her eyes closed, is the artist's best known work. Levine explained that the portrait came about as a "happy accident". He was commissioned to create a holographic portrait of the Queen, using a high-resolution digital camera which moved along a rail taking 200 images over eight seconds. The queen was required to sit still for 8 seconds at a time and between the passes she closed her eyes to rest. Levine was struck by the unusual beauty of her meditative state and took the image, which turned out to be iconic.
Lightness of Being
- Artist
- Chris Levine (b.1960)
- Title
- Lightness of Being
- Medium
- Lenticular print
- Date
- 2010
- Size
- 27 x 19 in : 68.5 x 48.3 cm
- Framed Size
- 34 ¼ x 26 ½ in : 87.0 x 67.0 cm
- Edition
- From the edition of 200
- Inscriptions
- Signed on the reverse
- Provenance
- Acquired directly from the artist
- Reference
- A22-97
- Download PDF
- Status
- Available
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