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American Herstory: Through Her Lens: The Artist’s Studio as a Sanctuary in Lisa Yuskavage’s Work
With a new series of paintings, American artist Lisa Yuskavage returns to exhibit in Los Angeles after thirty years, presenting her work - until April 12, 2025 - at the David Zwirner gallery, which has represented her since 2005. The fil rouge of the exhibition, reminiscent of Courbet's work, is the artist's studio setting, a statement of poetic expression that, since the time when the French artist, with L'Atelier du peintre, was excluded from the 1855 Exposition Universelle and responded with an independent show (The Pavilion of Realism), has been linked to an idea of pride, autonomy, and artistic resistance, affirming the role of the artist and the responsibility that comes with it.
The artist's studio, just like life-drawing classes traditionally attended and depicted by a solely male presence, is here populated exclusively by women.
These rooms, bathed in natural light that translates into bright colors, which the artist herself refers to as "candy colors," are inhabited by multiple versions of Lisa Yuskavage: artist, model, child, and adult woman. The protagonists of these paintings are also references to her previous works, included as a reflection on her career up until now.
Recognized as one of the most influential artists of recent decades, Yuskavage is now considered to have moved beyond the impasse that once placed her at the center of debates on misogyny and sexism.
“My wings grew because I didn’t have the roots”, Yuskavage stated in a conversation with Katy Hessel for The Great Women Artists, recalling a time when she found no support from either the public or the galleries. In the 1990s, her work was not immediately understood: on one hand, few artists had returned to figurative painting; on the other, her disruptive and bold aesthetic, with explicit nudity, was difficult to accept. Feminist art historian Amelia Jones defined her style as "soft-porn" in a 2007 Washington Post report, accusing her of indulging the male gaze. However, in 2009, she was included in the exhibition The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women at the Cheim & Read gallery, alongside major artists such as Marina Abramović, Vanessa Beecroft, Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, and Cindy Sherman. For years, the portrayal of explicit sexuality overshadowed any other possible interpretation of her work: questions arose about whether it aligned with feminist thought or if it aimed to please a male audience. Over time, Yuskavage clarified her stance, emphasizing the importance of her experience as a woman in a patriarchal society. However, beyond the content, what strikes in her art is the extraordinary painting technique and profound knowledge of art history. During her studies at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, she spent a year in Italy and became fascinated by the Venetian masters, particularly Bellini and Tintoretto.
The influence of these artists, renowned for their revolutionary use of light and color, is evident in her works, especially in the depiction of bodies in space. In the series of paintings exhibited at David Zwirner, the women move within the artist's studio without meeting each other's gaze, each immersed in her own dimension, evoking the Sacra Conversazione by Giovanni Bellini (San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505).
References to art history emerge not only in the subjects and content but also as a conceptual reflection on the painting medium. Examples include the monochrome canvases scattered in Painter Painting (2024), In the Company of Models (2024), and Morning Classes in New Haven: In the Department of Color Theory (2024). Also in Painter Painting (2024), the artist explores another theme: the relationship between object (painting) and subject (painter). Yuskavage portrays herself from behind, wearing a painter's smock, next to a series of references to her previous works: The Motherfucker, from the Bad Habits series, appears in three versions (grisaille, photography, and sculptural maquette). In In the Company of Models (2024), the artist references her 1995 painting Rorschach Blot and evokes her experience as a model during her studies. Yuskavage's pictorial universe is almost entirely female, but one exception can be found in Peacock Infestation in the Garret (2024): here, the studio is inhabited by peacocks, who "infest" the space with their presence. In one corner of the canvas, the artist appears lying on the floor, dead. In Christian tradition and in antiquity, the peacock symbolizes immortality: in this painting, the animals occupy the space with the same solemnity with which the women inhabit the other paintings, moved by a silent and hypnotic presence, as in Bellini's Sacra Conversazione. Yuskavage's work is not limited to provocation but moves through references to art history, reflections on the painting language, symbolic suggestions, and personal experiences, also defined by her being a woman in a male-dominated context. Today, Yuskavage is celebrated internationally, and her work is part of the collections of some of the world’s most important museums. Her painting, long misunderstood, has imposed itself with an inescapable force, creating a unique language that intertwines classical references, dreamlike visions, and a powerful and ambivalent femininity, beyond any prepackaged mold.
Sources:
David Zwirner. Lisa Yuskavage. https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2025/lisa-yuskavage
Hessel K. 2021. “Lisa Yuskavage”. The Great Women Artists, August 2021.
Earnest J. (2015, September 30). In the Studio: Lisa Yuskavage. ARTnews. https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/in-the-studio-lisa-yuskavage-63113/
Earnest J. (2015, February). Lisa Yuskavage on Nina Simone and Giovanni Bellini. The Brooklyn Rail. https://brooklynrail.org/2015/02/criticspage/lisa-yuskavage-on-nina-simone-and-giovanni-bellini/ Levy A. (2023, July 31). Lisa Yuskavage’s bodies of work. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/07/lisa-yuskavages-bodies-of-work
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