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Self-Portrait with Sculpture

1980
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
While recognizable as a modern iteration of the Pygmalion myth, this female sculpture is animated less by the sculptor’s apparent desire than by the illusionistic application of layers of paint, gradually suffusing her with life color. The internalized gaze of the artist/sculptor is undistracted beyond the nude presence of the female figure. In place of an erotic charge between the two figures, the Galatea-like model sits expect­antly for the artist to complete his task, while De Andrea acknowledges the primacy of skin pigment in enlivening the figure through the presence of loaded brushes in his hand.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Self-Portrait with Sculpture
  • Artist: John De Andrea (American, born 1941)
  • Date: 1980
  • Medium: Polyvinyl, polychromed in oil
  • Dimensions: 62 × 32 × 62 in., 100 lb. (157.5 × 81.3 × 157.5 cm, 45359.702g)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Foster Goldstrom
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art