In her many self-portraits, Maria Lassnig offers a vision of her body from the inside, emphasizing the play of sensation—what she called “body awareness”—over visual representation. Here she humorously suggests the activity of her brain by surrounding her face with elements that evoke the scientific recording of neural activity.
Maria Lassnig (1919–2014), Scientific Self-Portrait, 1994, Graphite pencil on wove paper, 27 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches (70 x 50 cm). Gift of the Modern and Contemporary Collectors Committee. 2014.25.
© Maria Lassnig / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.