Kathleen Gilje, Self-Portrait as Bouguereau's The Assault, 2012
Kathleen Gilje has been blessed with the Old Masters' touch. In her Self-Portrait as Bouguereau's The Assault, she seems to confide that art is not a choice but a calling, inspired by love and relentless forces beyond her control. Lucky for her that exceptional talent also joined this crowd of cupids (perhaps the little fellow delivering her palette). Who would not envy her ability to appropriate numerous artists' personalities in paint and pencil with her signature contemporary additions that turn the narrative of the work on its head. Her term for this magical transformations is "restoration." She "restores" the work to a meaning that had not been evident before. Or she makes old art new to us by inserting contemporary cultural artifacts.
Kathleen Gilje, Lady Agnew, Restored, 2009
from 48 Sargent Women, 2007-2008, mixed media on paper
Kathleen Gilje, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Restored, 2007
from 48 Sargent Women, 2007-8, oil on canvas
Kathleen Gilje, 48 Sargent Women, 2007-2008
at Francis Naumann Fine Art, February-April 2009
Bosom Bodies is proud to exhibit her drawing after her painting of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, which has never been shown in public before. We thank Kathleen for joining her sisters in art. In fact, Bosom Bodies is a bit of a reunion with Clarity Haynes, Wilhelmina Obatola Grant, Kathleen Gilje and myself, since we all participated on the panel for "The Feminist Breast" for Clarity's show at Tabla Rasa gallery in 2011. Please click on our names to see our individual presentations. Kathleen's presentation will explain 48 Sargent Women to you in her own words.
John Singer Sargent, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1892
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
As we see in this exquisite Sargent portrait, Lady Gertrude Agnew projects her elegance and social status through her clothing, furnishings and unmistakable ease ensconced within this splendor. Art historians tell us that she was recovering from influenza at the time, which may account for her extremely pale skin. Kathleen strips away the iconography of class and wealth to re-present the individual herself. A bit more healthy in complexion, she also seems confrontational in her frontality. No longer just a trophy wife, Lady Agnew seems transformed into an intriguing femme fatale, scrutinizing our gaze as she returns the favor in a more empowered, discerning way. Thus we understand Kathleen's decision to embolden all Sargent's women through her ability to copy this modern master and revise his nineteenth-century conception of the person. Here, we see Kathleen's desire to remember Lady Agnew as an alluring female presence, rather than a fetching accessory for the household.
Kathleen Gilje, The Fable, Restored, 1989
Kathleen's career began as an art restorer in Naples and grew in that area of expertise while she pursued her own painting. Then one day, while restoring a work of art for a client, it dawned on her that she could copy it and then add a little something to indicate it was not the original. It was El Greco's The Fable, 1580. I invited you to figure out where she "restored" the original image.
Kathleen Gilje, Susanna and the Elders, Restored, 1998
after Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610
Kathleen has also invented the former lives of artworks through painting an "original" and covering it with an identical copy of the version we know so well. Here, we offer a glimpse of Kathleen Gilje's Susanna and the Elders with the artist's describe of her entire installation.
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Bosom Bodies: An Exhibition in Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month opens on Saturday, October 7th, from 3 - 6 pm, at SIA Gallery, 1 South Division Street, Peekskill, NY 10566. Gallery Hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, noon - 5 pm. The Closing and Performances are on Sunday, October 29th, 3 - 5 pm. The Curator's lecture on "The History of the Breast in Art" and tour of the show is on Sunday, October 22nd, at 2 pm.
Bosom Bodies is a New York Arts Exchange project. For more information, please contact the curator Beth Gersh-Nesic, at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net
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