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Cibachrome Photograph - Vanity

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ŠThe Helen Chadwick Estate, Courtesy of the Zelda Cheatle Gallery, London

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Basic Information

Accession Number:1987P5
Collection:Fine Art Prints and Drawings
Date:1986 - 1986

Maker Information

Artist:Helen Chadwick - View biography for Helen Chadwick
Photographer:Edward Woodman - View biography for Edward Woodman

Notes

In this self-portrait, Chadwick uses her own body to examine the politics and associations surrounding female portraiture and the nude. There is a direct reference to the long tradition in art of female Vanitas figures, contemplating their own image in a mirror. They illustrate the fragility of physical beauty and all human creation.

Here, the artist gazes into a mirror, which reflects one of her works, the Oval Court installation, her own 'Garden of Delights'. It is a defiant image, confronting the inevitable process of change but not as a de-personalised or idealised nude. Rather she portrays herself as a creator in control of her own image.

Purchased by the Friends of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 1987.

Further Information

Production Period:20th century
School/Style:Conceptual
Medium:Cibachrome photograph.
Material(s):Photographic paper

Associated People

Dimensions

Height:110 mm
Width:80 mm