Jenny Saville's Propped

Jenny Saville's Propped

Saville, Jenny. Propped. 1992. oil on canvas. 213.5x 183cm

Another illustration of Jung’s animus/anima theme is Saville’s work entitled Propped . This piece depicts a woman sitting on a high stool, naked except for a pair of white shoes. What is most compelling about Propped is its distorted proportions. The knees and thighs dominate the image in significant disproportion to the breasts and head. Significantly, the legs appear to connote a sense of muscularity, almost as if this figure is half man and half woman. Although Propped, as well as Saville’s many female nude pieces, appear to be a statement against the contemporary popular representations of the slim, tightly managed and often, air-brushed female body, her work also suggests the contemporary struggle for individuals to integrate a sense of male/femaleness within themselves.