Transformative Triptychs in Multicultural America

Abstract

From the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, the hinged triptych with narrow panels closing like doors over a larger center panel became a favorite form for Christian altarpieces and small devotional shrines, particularly in northern Europe. In modern times, art historians have spread knowledge of and appreciation for the medieval and Renaissance triptych through books, articles, exhibitions, and the ubiquitous slide lecture. In the process, this format has become thoroughly associated in the public mind with Christianity and with European culture. Widespread awareness of historical altarpieces may have contributed to artists' renewed use of the three-part format during the past four decades. Unlike the earlier tradition, however, the contemporary triptych usually appears as three detached panels of equal size that contain no reference to Christian devotional art in title, materials, or content. Instead, such triptychs by artists including Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein express a purely formal, aesthetic choice.1