Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits
Untitled (Long Face), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Untitled (Scream), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Untitled (Rainbow), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Untitled (Profile), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Triptych in the Style of an Altar Piece: Untitled (Child I), Untitled (Smiling I), Untitled (Child I), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
(3) Individual Archival Pigment Prints, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches per panel
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches per panel
Untitled (Leather I), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Untitled (Wired IV), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Untitled (Eyelash), Palermo, 2013
(From the series Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits)
Archival Pigment Print, Ed. of 1
Signed, titled, dated, numbered on label verso
46 1/4 x 61 3/4 inches
If framed: 50 3/4 inches x 66 1/4 inches x 3 inches
Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits by Matthew Rolston.
Monograph, front cover, Nazraeli Press, 2025
Hardcover: 12.5 x 18 x 1.5 inches, 118 pages, 50 four-color plates
A special edition of 500 copies presented in a custom clamshell case.
ISBN: 978-1-59005-588-5
The Vanitas exhibition coincides with the release of a limited-edition monograph published by Nazraeli Press (2025). A collector’s edition of only 500 copies, this first printing of Matthew Rolston’s Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits is exquisitely crafted, with richly detailed four-color reproduction on grandly scaled clay-coated stock and bound in linen over boards. Presented in a luxurious linen covered clamshell case, the publication features texts by the artist and by American author, photography critic and journalist Philip Gefter, and a foreword excerpted from cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker’s seminal work, The Denial of Death (1973). In addition to lavishly printed images from the series, the volume includes a range of reference photography and artworks that ground Vanitas in a rich art historical context.