Skip to Main Content

Las Meninas

2019
(American, b. 1967)
steel, raffia
Overall: 121.3 x 208.3 x 148 cm (47 3/4 x 82 x 58 1/4 in.)
Weight: 203 lbs.
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2019.175.b
© 2019 Simone Leigh. All rights reserved.
Location: 229A Contemporary
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

The hollow face is surrounded by dozens of small porcelain flowers.

Description

Las Meninas draws on traditions throughout global art and culture to address issues surrounding the female body, race, beauty, and community. The work’s skirted form conjures figures from the Spanish Golden Age painting Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velazquez, apparel worn in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition candomblé, and Mousgoum buildings in Cameroon. The white-glazed terracotta torso, alluding to sacred and secular traditions of body painting, leads to a faceless head, incorporating both figuration and abstraction.
Las Meninas

Las Meninas

2019

Simone Leigh

(American, b. 1967)

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.