Existing comment:
Chinese Profile II
Chinese Profile II is based on a photograph that was published in the Scottish photographer John Thomson's (1827–1931) Through China with a Camera (1898), a pseudo-anthropological book. Thomson made a trip through the country between 1868 and 1872 and described his publication as "portraying objects of interest along my route, and the races with which I came in contact."
The act of profiling human faces for ethnographic or anthropological studies has a long tradition in the history of photography. At the same time, many contemporary artists have embraced the profile as a way for women subjects to avert the "male gaze" and resist objectification.
By taking an image that was intended to promote stereotypes and turning it into a dignified, even heroic portrayal through the act of painting, Liu honors this woman's individuality. In addition, she has radically changed the representation through her use of scale, color, collage-like layering, and expressionistic washes.
Oil on canvas, 1998
San Jose Museum of Art; Museum purchase with
funds contributed by the Council of 100 |