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Lookup NU author(s): Nadia Hebson
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Working obliquely with the legacy of women artists, Nadia Hebson’s work has sought to comprehend the relationship between painting, biography, persona and clothing, most recently through a consideration of the work of both Winifred Knights b.1899 d.1947 and Christina Ramberg b.1946 d.1995. Having previously adopted a form of ‘subjective biography’ to comprehend the expanded legacy of Winifred Knights, (and taking her cue from Christa Wolf’s The Quest for Christa T.) the exhibition can you forgive her? draws on a similarly digressive process to examine the work of the painter, Christina Ramberg. As with Knights, in Ramberg’s paintings clothing becomes a site for a nuanced exploration of the complexities of feminine experience. Concerned with how the resonance and comprehension of the work has shifted since its first reception and aware that Ramberg resisted any feminist reading relative to her work, Hebson is interested in the implications of this position and the climate that accompanied it.How can an appropriate and responsive form be given to a lineage of female painters and their relevant concerns? For Hebson, Ramberg and Knights serve to activate an alternative history of significant yet critically under-recognised twentieth century painters, whose complex work is only beginning to be comprehended.
Artist(s): Hebson N
Publication type: Exhibition
Publication status: Published
Year: 2014
Number of Pieces: 10
Venue: Mauve
Location: Vienna, Austria
Media of Output: Paintings, objects, photography, text, clothing
Notes: Supported by Grants for the Arts the exhibition was one output from a 18 month project that was funded by Arts Council England and included a research period in the USA working with Carol Becker, Dean, Columbia University, New York, Corbett vs. Dempsey ( Gallery) Chicago, The Smart Museum, Chicago, The Roger Brown Study Collection, Chicago and The Art Institute Chicago and a two month residency at The Vytlacil Residency Programme, New York. During this period as a result of the research I was asked to give a public talk at the first solo exhibition of Christina Ramberg's work, at 42 Carlton Place, part of Glasgow International 2014, by artists and curators of the exhibition Merlin James and Carol Rhodes. The research project had further constituent elements that developed the projects overall theme which was the exploration, comprehension and re-positioning of an overlooked women artist's legacy (Christina Ramberg). The project further develops my critical enquiry established in my previous research project which continues to explore how an alternative canon can be constituted by a new, inventive form comparable to the literary endeavour of ecriture feminine.
