Jenny Saville's Uncompromising Painting: Body, Hybridity, and Pictorial Pathology
Born in 1970, Jenny Saville operates between London and Palermo, concentrating on the human form through themes of hybridity and pathology. Her robust paintings often portray powerful women, characterized by terms like "brutalized femininity" and "repulsion." While her art invites autobiographical readings, Saville herself is physically delicate and meticulous. She mainly showcases her solo work at Gagosian Gallery in New York and Beverly Hills, having participated in group exhibitions at Saatchi Gallery in 1994 and 2000, as well as the notable 1997 Sensation show. Identifying strictly as a painter, she dismisses the conceptual label. Influenced by De Kooning and Pollock, she examines the transgender body and draws inspiration from cosmetic surgeries, balancing representation with material metaphor and exploring themes of weight and weightlessness.
Key facts
- Jenny Saville was born in 1970 and lives in London and Palermo.
- She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1992.
- Her solo exhibitions have been at Gagosian Gallery in New York (1999, 2003) and Beverly Hills (2002).
- She participated in the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1997.
- Saville cites Caravaggio, Velázquez, De Kooning, and Pollock as influences.
- She uses photography as source material but does not consider herself a photographer.
- Recent works involve photographs of transvestites in Rome.
- She has attended cosmetic surgery operations to study the body.
Entities
Artists
- Jenny Saville
- Caravaggio
- Velázquez
- Willem de Kooning
- Jackson Pollock
- Cy Twombly
- Jasper Johns
- Lucian Freud
- Hannah Wilke
- Cindy Sherman
- Glen Luchford
- Italo Calvino
- Linda Nochlin
- Barry Schwabsky
Institutions
- Gagosian Gallery
- Saatchi Gallery
- Royal Academy
- Glasgow School of Art
- artpress
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Palermo
- Italy
- New York
- United States
- Beverly Hills
- Rome
Sources
- artpress —