Abstract:
In this dissertation, 'copied' artworks by the American artist Sherrie Levine, taken from two different periods in her career, are examined in the light of psychoanalytic theory. The earlier work considered was
initiated at the beginning of the 1980's when Levine employed commercial photographic processes to produce copies of works by early Twentieth Century male photographers. The later work, her installation, "La
Fortune (After Man Ray)", was executed in 1991.
Levine invariably made copies after images of subjects external to the domain of mainstream culture. The early 'copies' received a response that framed them as a critique of the modernist ideologies of originality and authenticity. An examination of this reception of her work reveals how
critical (mostly male) reviewers repressed the feminist interests of Levine, and her own 'originality'.
