Existing comment:
Self-Portrait (On Being Female)
Pele de Lappe 1916-2007
On Being Female, Pele de Lappe's 1991 lithographic self-portrait, addresses the complexities of being a woman. Marriage, parenthood, relocations, and two divorces had all interfered with de Lappe's career in art. For many years, she was a cartoonist and a newspaper editor. To support her family, she also worked as a layout designer for a business form company, only returning finally to her art in the 1980s. In this print, the white-haired de Lappe, who had had many lovers and admirers, references through the nude in the background the voluptuous beauty she once was. By turning away the face in one portrayal and holding a mask in the other, she implies that the female must hide her true self in order to play expected roles. Both the nudity of the young woman and the jewelry of the older one could be choices designed to appeal, implying sexual availability or simply femininity.
1991 |