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Las Meninas

2019
(American, b. 1967)
America
Terracotta, steel, raffia, porcelain
Overall: 182.9 x 213.4 x 152.4 cm (72 x 84 x 60 in.)
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2019.175
© 2019 Simone Leigh. All rights reserved.
Location: 229A Contemporary
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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The hollow face is surrounded by dozens of small porcelain flowers.

Description

Las Meninas draws on traditions throughout global art and culture to address issues surrounding the female body, race, beauty, and community. The work’s skirted form conjures figures from the Spanish Golden Age painting Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velazquez, apparel worn in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition candomblé, and Mousgoum buildings in Cameroon. The white-glazed terracotta torso, alluding to sacred and secular traditions of body painting, leads to a faceless head, incorporating both figuration and abstraction.
Las Meninas

Las Meninas

2019

Simone Leigh

(American, b. 1967)
America

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