Maria Lassnig
Kopf mit Ohren / Gomera = Mexico, 1999
Lithograph/paper
Framed
64.3 x 90 cm
Edition 20/20, AP
Hand signed and numbered by the artist
£3,000 + VAT
Maria Lassnig’s print was published by The Edition, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien (The Edition, University of Applied Arts Vienna) where she was professor in the 1980s, teaching painting and animation film.
After retiring from university, she spent several holidays on La Gomera (Canary Islands) in the 1990s and was impressed by the island’s diverse flora. It made her think of Mexico or Africa since she inscribed a few works accordingly. On the island she painted a series of watercolour landscapes, incorporating mostly abstract self-portraits by pencil – outlines of bodies, body fragments, heads and faces. These self-portraits offer evidence of the form of self-analysis to which the highly sensitive artist constantly subjected herself. Following her concept of body awareness, she introspectively discovered the true nature of her own condition and expressed physical sensations through the use of artistic media.
The present print is based on a colourized drawing from the 1990s, “Kopf mit Ohren (Head with Ears) / Gomera = Mexico”, showing multiple perspectives simultaneously and welcoming interpretations which bodily features could be considered a head or an ear.
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