Joan Semmel. Night Light. 1978

Joan Semmel Night Light 1978

  • Not on view

This work derives from Semmel’s experience of looking through a camera lens at her own dramatically cropped and foreshortened figure. “When you look at yourself, you’re not looking at the whole body, you see it in fragments,” she explained. “I was interested in how you experience the body rather than an image of an ideal.” The work challenges the tradition of the female nude by capturing the gaze of a female maker.

Gallery label from 2019
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
50 × 98" (127 × 248.9 cm)
Credit
Gift of Jeffrey M. Resnick in honor of Zina W. Davis
Object number
790.2017
Copyright
© Joan Semmel. Used by permission.
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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