Gift of the Manuel Neri Trust. In the permanent collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
UM2016.550
In the depicted female form, painted over what appears to be a magazine image or a photograph, all distinguishing feminine characteristics have been stripped away by the addition of pink brush strokes, outside of marks indicating breasts, and a thumbprint placed at the figure’s pelvis. How does the removal of individual characteristics change the interpretation of this figure? Does the facelessness of the figure lead to the erasing of this person’s identity or gender, particularly when knowing that underneath this layer of paint there is the face of an individual person, now marked with the thumbprint of the artist who erased their distinct face?
Cabeza Study No. 20, 1978
Manuel Neri (American, 1930–2021)
Oil-based pigments, ink on printed paper
Gift of the Manuel Neri Trust. In the permanent collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
UM2016.539
Cabeza Study No. 22, 1978
Manuel Neri (American, 1930–2021)
Oil-based pigments, ink on printed paper
Gift of the Manuel Neri Trust. In the permanent collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
UM2016.540
In Cabeza Study No. 20, distinguishing characteristics of the face are shown, a seemingly young girl engulfed in the deep black of the background. In Cabeza Study No. 22, can the viewer ascertain if this is the same figure? How does removal of distinguishing characteristics of the figure change the interpretation? Only the profile is present, with white slashes where the eye and curve of the cheek were found on the previous study. The black-heavy brush strokes, and the absence of recognizable traits, lend this image to a much more ominous reading of the figure.
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