Maria Lassnig
Scientific Self-Portrait
1994
Graphite pencil on wove paper.
27 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches (70 x 50 cm); frame: 33 5/8 x 25 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches
Gift of the Modern and Contemporary Collectors Committee.
© Maria Lassnig / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
2014.25
Notes:
Active from the 1950s onward, Lassnig gained international reputation for her paintings of figures (often self-portraits) that emphasize the expression of sensations over representation. Deformation and fragmentation offer a vision of the body from the inside with suggestion of tension and pain. In the present self-portrait Lassnig explored sensations in the brain by drawing her face surrounded by elements evoking the scientific recording of neural activity. The fusion of body and hardware relates to Lassnig's interest in science-fiction and robots.
Inscription:
Signed at lower right.
Provenance:
The artist (Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York).
Catalog link:
Artist page:
Century:
Classification:
Department: