Large Head
1993
The artist is a grandson of Sigmund Freud. His well-to-do Jewish parents left Berlin as the Nazis rose to power. Freud grew up in England, first an alienated, solitary youth, then a willfully eccentric artist who consorted with upper-crust socialites and seedy bohemians. The subject of this print is the late Leigh Bowery, a cross-dressing performance artist whose outlandish, highly original costumes and masks created a sensation in London's nightclubs in the 1980s. This saturnine portrait shows only one clue to Bowery's theatrical alter ego: the cheek piercings that were often used in his masquerades. (For a taste of Bowery's performance style, rent the video "Wigstock.")
Etching
Sheet h.: 32 1/2 in.
Sheet w.: 26 1/2 in.
Frame h.: 40 3/4 in.
Frame w.: 34 3/4 in.
Frame d.: 3 in.
Gift of Robert and Connie Nowinski
95.31