Response to 'Branded" by Jenny Saville

I was drawn to this piece, initially because of the colors and the painterly style of the brush strokes. The cool blues, greens and purple tones compliment the pinks, reds and white paint used to give us a realistic view and sense of texture to the mass of flesh. With the choice of colors an almost ‘cold’ feeling can be sensed as if the subject has been left alone, isolated or outside too long. The cast of light across the naked body also helps to reinforce this idea.
Secondly my eyes were directed to the large breasts and stomach, where she clutches the fat skin, she seems to be inviting a narrative, our opinion or reaction perhaps. This is reinforced by the words carved in the skin, some of which read, ‘support,' 'delicate' and 'petite’. These do not seem like words that would describe this woman but are used to describe women in general. I read that this was a commentary by the artist on the misperceptions of women portrayed in art history.
The form of the body is obviously distorted with the head the smallest feature, forcing it to the background, the breasts and stomach protrude into the foreground, perhaps another commentary on the emphasis put on women’s looks. The painting achieves balance, even with these distortions, with the shadow painted on the wall behind the figure and the darker tones in the face. The molding on the wall at hip level serves to give some sense of space and weight to the composition as well as the darker values of paint used in the bottom half of the painting. The way in which the figure leans on the wall behind her helps create movement, as if the wall is needed to hold the heaviness of her body up.