Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Lisa Brice
Untitled (After Ophelia)

2020

About the Item

Lithograph printed in colours, 2020, on wove paper, signed and numbered from the edition of 50, published by Tate, London, 87 x 38 cm. (34¼ x 15 in.) South-African born, London based artist Lisa Brice has generously produced Untitled (After Ophelia), 2020, a limited edition print especially for Tate with all proceeds going to the Art Now programme. Brice has painted directly onto sheets of clear film which were then used to create lithographic printing plates. The resulting print achieves both the rich colour, and the tonal range of her paintings. Employing a multitude of borrowed art historical references, Brice depicts strangely familiar scenes in new and often unsettling ways. Where figures might previously have been depicted as objectified nudes or damsels in distress, Brice recasts them in new situations with a sense of autonomy. Brice has discussed the significant fact that historical figuration in Western art history is, more often than not, created by white men for white men. For her, the act of a woman re-authoring an image which was previously painted by a man brings about a powerful shift in itself. This subversion of misogynistic visual tropes from the canon of Western art history is key to Brice’s practice. The main figure in this print references the Tate Collection work, Ophelia 1851-2 by John Everett Millais. In the painting by Millais, a heartbroken Ophelia lies lifeless, having drowned in a stream. Brice has resurrected Ophelia from her watery grave and she leans nude through a brightly coloured plastic curtain used to keep mosquitoes out. Plumes of smoke billow up from the cigarette she holds nonchalantly whilst drinking a bottle of Trinidadian Stag beer (pitched in Trinidad as a ‘man’s beer’). For Untitled (After Ophelia), 2020, Brice has combined the art historical with a sense of Trinidadian life. Since 1999, when Brice first attended a workshop in Grande Riviere, and a residency in POS the following year, she has maintained strong ties with the island. Brice often references Trinidad in her work, one recurring reference being a particular shade of blue. For Brice, the colour hints at the sense of liberation experienced by those masquerading as Blue Devils during Carnival, or when revellers coat themselves with mud or paint for J’ouvert (a celebration which marks the beginning of Carnival) freeing themselves from the limitations of their own character. The blue paint is possibly made from Reckitt’s powder, which historically was used throughout the colonies of the British Empire for blueing white cloth. The powder has also been associated with skin bleaching, something that takes on particular relevance considering Brice’s connection to Trinidad where shadeism (discrimination based on degrees of skin colour) is prevalent. Brice’s use of blue interrupts easy readings of ethnicity. Blue also has a plethora of art historical associations: it is traditionally the colour of the Virgin Mary’s cloak in religious iconography; for Henri Matisse, the colour allowed him to focus intensely on the female form; and Yves Klein employed his own trademarked shade to make paintings using women as living paintbrushes. Brice’s work consistently defies straightforward interpretations; her bold and defiant characters refuse to be pinned down.
  • Creator:
    Lisa Brice (1968, South African)
  • Creation Year:
    2020
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 34.26 in (87 cm)Width: 14.97 in (38 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Edition of 50Price: $14,538
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU4709601022

More From This Seller

View All
Ball Games
By Benjamin Senior
Located in London, GB
Six colour lithograph, 2019, on Somerset Velvet Warm White 400gsm, signed, numbered and dated from the edition of 200, produced by Counter Studio, Margate, 76.6 x 60 cm. (30¼ x 23½ i...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

One Plate, from Ubu au Baléares
By Joan Miró
Located in London, GB
Lithograph in colours, 1971, on Japon nacré paper, signed in pencil, from the edition of 120, printed by Mourlot, published by Tériade, Paris, 50.4 x 66.2 cm. (19¾ x 26 in.)
Category

1970s Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Paris sans fin
By Alberto Giacometti
Located in London, GB
First edition, from the edition of 250 copies on Vélin d’Arches from a total edition of 270; large 4to (42.2 x 32 cm); artist’s signature stamp to limitation page, 150 lithographs after Giacometti, loose as issued in publisher's printed wrappers, glassine wrappers, cloth chemise and slipcase. Giacometti’s testament to art and modern life in his beloved Paris. For Tériade it would be a milestone, the last great publication he would see through the press. The two men [Tériade and Giacometti] had maintained a close friendship ever since the Surrealist Years. The one hundred and fifty lithographs are a profoundly interpenetrating view of Giacometti's experience of Paris. He selected the plates to be printed and determined the order of their relationship, numbering each one. The frontispiece shows a nude figure of a woman plunging forward, as though diving into space, and is immediately followed by a quantity of views of city streets, then of interiors familiar to the artist. We come upon views of his studio, of the cafes he frequented, of Annette's apartment in the rue Mazarine and Caroline's in the Avenue du Maine, strangers at cafe tables, passers by, parked automobiles, the towers of Saint-Suplice, bridges across the Seine, The Eiffel Tower. To accompany the hundred and fifty plates, a text of twenty pages was planned, but the artist never got further than a few rough drafts. True, he was a devotee of words, Paris sans fin, however, said too much to the eye to be in need of other symbols (James Lord...
Category

1960s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Les Amoureux à l'Isba
By Marc Chagall
Located in London, GB
Lithograph in colours, 1980, on Arches paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 50, published by Maeght Editeur, Paris, image: 60 x 94.3 cm. (23 5/8 x 37 1/8 in.), sheet...
Category

1980s Surrealist Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Les Clowns Musiciens
By Marc Chagall
Located in London, GB
Lithograph in colours, 1980, on Arches paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 50, published by Maeght Editeur, Paris, image: 95.3 x 60.4 cm. (37 ½ x 23 ¾ in.), sheet: ...
Category

1980s Surrealist Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

La Parade
By Marc Chagall
Located in London, GB
Lithograph in colours, 1980, on Arches paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 50, published by Maeght Editeur, Paris, image: 95.9 x 61.6 cm. (37 ¾ x 24 ¼ in.), sheet: ...
Category

1980s Surrealist Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

La Parade
Price Upon Request

You May Also Like

La Femme En Bleu (State II), hand signed lithograph
By Douglas Hofmann
Located in Aventura, FL
Lithograph in colors on paper. Hand signed lower right by Douglas Hofmann. From the edition of 300. Hand numbered lower left. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of ...
Category

1980s Contemporary Nude Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Untitled (de Kooning)
By Richard Prince
Located in New York, NY
Collage with color offset lithograph, hand-cutting, hand-painting and assemblage on inset board. It is signed in pencil, with numbering on the original label. Published by Two Palms ...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Board, Color, Lithograph, Offset

Rising, male nude lithograph by Trevor Southey
By Trevor Southey
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Signed, titled and numbered lithograph by Trevor Southey. Male nude portrait of a young man. this is the terra cotta version, there was also an edition done in grey. Trevor Southey ...
Category

1980s Contemporary Nude Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Undressing for the Bath
Located in Columbia, MO
Undressing for the Bath Color lithograph Ed. A.P. 12.5 x 9.5 inches Framed: 22 x 18 inches
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Full Length Mirror
Located in Columbia, MO
Full Length Mirror Lithograph 16/20 14 x 10 inches Framed: 22 x 18 inches
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 offset litho poster
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 poster, 2018 Offset lithograph poster (unsigned, unnumbered and unframed) 17 × 22 inches Published by The Kitchen in 2018, on the occasion of their Gala honoring Nan Goldin and Lydia Lunch Provenance Acquired from The Kitchen on the occasion of their 2018 Gala Also accompanied by Certificate of Guarantee from Alpha 137 Gallery Excerpt from The Kitchen description of this event: “During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, icons Goldin and Lunch were vanguards of post-punk New York. Both women have presented their work at The Kitchen throughout the years, consistently returning to premiere new works that went on to exemplify their careers. Goldin’s portraiture of her close-knit circle of friends in New York became emblematic of her generation’s grappling with the social issues of the time, from the epidemic of drug addiction to the AIDS crisis. Lunch is revered as a radical progenitor of No Wave music, fronting the influential Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and collaborating with acts like JG Thirlwell, Birthday Party, and Sonic Youth. Lunch has a broad artistic practice, also working in film, visual art, writing, and spoken-word. Goldin and Lunch have also collaborated on numerous occasions. For instance, the cover of Lunch’s 1995 album Drowning In Limbo featured a portrait of her taken by Goldin. Lunch also posed for Goldin’s project for The Village Voice’s short-lived fashion insert Vue in 1985. Shot as part of an editorial called “Masculine/Feminine,” the image of a reclining Lunch at Russian baths in the East Village was ultimately not included in the final layout, and we were pleased to be present the image for the first time as a limited-edition print in support of The Kitchen. At The Kitchen in November 1980, Goldin presented slides as part of Dubbed in Glamour, a three-day event of “spectacle and extravagance” organized by Edit deAk that featured primarily women artists. Introduced by Cookie Mueller, who served as the master of ceremonies, these slides were an early version of Goldin’s landmark work The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, which continued to take shape during the next few years. The Bush Tetras, who performed at this year’s gala, also participated in Dubbed in Glamour. In 1994, Goldin returned to The Kitchen to premiere three slideshows for the first time in the United States as part of the winter lecture series curated by Ira Silverberg. The first slideshow developed from her 1992 award-winning book The Other Side, which lauded the drag queens she lived with and among in New York. During the ‘70s, when Goldin first moved to the city, the people she lived with became not just her subjects, but also her chosen family. The second slideshow was a series of intimate self-portraits. The evening concluded with a collection of Goldin’s images that traced her relationships to her close friends Alf Bold, Gilles Dusein, and Cookie Mueller and celebrated the joy of their lives and the pain of their deaths from AIDS. In 1985, Lunch first appeared at The Kitchen as part of the two-night screening series of experimental short films, Super 8 Motel. She and Richard Kern...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

Recently Viewed

View All