Sylvia Sleigh
[British-born American Contemporary Realist Painter, born in
1916]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sylvia Sleigh (professional name for
Sylvia Sleigh Alloway, 1916, Llandudno, Gwynedd, Wales) is a
naturalised American realist painter. After studying at the
Brighton School of Art, she had her first solo exhibition in
1953 at the Kensington Art Gallery. She married Lawrence Alloway,
an art critic, before moving to the United States in the early
1960s when he became a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum.
Around 1970, from feminist principles,
she painted a series of works reversing stereotypical artistic
themes by featuring naked men in poses usually associated with
women. Some directly alluded to existing works, such as her
gender-reversed version of Ingres's The Turkish Bath (the
reclining man is her husband, Laurence Alloway). Philip Golub
Reclining alludes similarly to the Rokeby Venus by Velázquez.
Other works equalise the roles of men
and women, such as the 1976 Concert Champetre, in which all the
characters are nude, unlike its similarly composed namesake by
Titian (sometimes credited to Giorgione), in which only the
women are. She comments on her works: "I feel that my paintings
stress the equality of men & women (women & men). To me, women
were often portrayed as sex objects in humiliating poses. I
wanted to give my perspective. I liked to portray both man and
woman as intelligent and thoughtful people with dignity and
humanism that emphasized love and joy".
In 2007, in an interview with Brian
Sherwin for Myartspace, Sylvia Sleigh was asked if gender
equality issues in the mainstream art world, and the world in
general, had changed for the better. Sylvia answered, "I do
think things have improved for women in general there are many
more women in government, in law and corporate jobs, but its
very difficult in the art world for women to find a gallery.".
According to Sylvia there is still more that needs to be done in
order for men and women to be treated as equals in the art
world.
