Glyndebourne 90th Anniversary Poster by Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili 

The Merry Widow poster with Afro Eclipse 1, 2003

2024

Digital print on Monte Carlo paper 300gsm

90 x 60cm

Edition of 150

Posters are not numbered

Chris Ofili’s poster design for Lehár’s The Merry Widow features his drawing Afro Eclipse 1 (2003), which is related to a body of work that employs the red, black and green colours of Marcus Garvey’s 1920 Pan-African flag. In Afro Eclipse 1 a man and a woman meet under the influence of a sun and moon as they combine in a radiant eclipse, seemingly creating a celestial body with a golden core. The man, however, with the glare of gold in his eyes, covertly crosses his fingers in a gesture that might hint at the presence of competing suitors, or his hopes for a rewarding union – an evocation of lovers’ intrigues that chimes with the twists and turns of The Merry Widow. In creating the accompanying typography, Ofili took inspiration from posters and musical scores that were produced in the wake of the opera’s 1905 premiere.

Chris Ofili (b. 1968 Manchester, UK) lives and works in Trinidad. He has internationally exhibited including at Victoria Miro, London, UK; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, UK; National Gallery, London UK; New Museum, New York, US; The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, US; Tate Britain, London, UK; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, DE; The Studio Museum, New York, US and Serpentine Gallery, London, UK. 

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