Object number2023.35.1
The Silent Woman
Date2015
Artist
Lezley Saar
(American, born 1953)
CultureAmerican
MediumAcrylic on fabric on panel
DimensionsOverall: 20 x 16 x 2 1/8 in. (50.8 x 40.6 x 5.4 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange
On View
Not on viewPeriod21st c
Classification(s)
SignedOn verso, signed lower right in black ink: Lezley Saar
InscribedOn verso, by artist, lower right in black ink: [signature] 2015
Vassar Exhibitions
Label TextThe Silent Woman references Ben Jonson’s 1609 comedy, but deflects its premise. Where the play centers on staged muteness, Lezley Saar’s protagonist possesses arcane authority—the hourglass and pentagram mark her as a keeper of occult knowledge. Vesta the Johnny invokes British music hall performer Vesta Tilley, who achieved fame through male impersonation during the late nineteenth century. Both panels demonstrate Saar’s ongoing fascination with Victorian and Edwardian figures who operated outside conventional expectations. These portraits excavate the emotional conflict underlying mistaken identity. As a biracial woman navigating perception and representation across racial categories, Saar brings intimate understanding to questions of selfhood. Her son’s gender transition deepened this inquiry, inspiring exploration of identity as spectrum versus fixed binary. The recurring egg appears as an emblem of transformation, while varied skin tones challenge singular categories of race and gender. These figures celebrate liminal and marginal modes of being, finding resolve in their multiplicity.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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Gordon Matta-Clark
1971-1972
Culture: American
