Jenny Saville is a painter of the human flesh - mostly female and some male. It all comes down to us - bodies & faces. For me, Saville seems to have moved away from her earlier depictions of the body with pain and suffering. Towards, an acceptance and calmness. Jenny Saville - who’s undergone childbirth, unknown to da Vinci and Michelangelo - also chose to infuse her art with the tenderness of motherhood. What is amazing is the sheer level of emotion conveyed in her brushstrokes.
Of particular interest to me is Saville’s focus on the eyes and lips, almost as a window into a person. Nearing the totality of expression - the inner workings of the subject’s mind and thoughts.
Her art is mindblowing.
Yet, even as I recognise her tremendous skill, there are some pieces which are difficult to engage with. Her earlier work seems to have a sense of anxiety and/or impending doom underlying them. Still I remain compelled - never indifferent.
Pieta 1 is stunning.
Rating: 5/5 ★★★★★
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Hyphen by Jenny Saville (1999)
This painting, Hyphen, was part of Saville’s first solo exhibition.
This is a double-portrait of the painter and her sister.
I think it’s amazing. Clearly Saville is “sculpting” paint to create a single body mass (with the two heads nestled together).
