Lisa Yuskavage (1962) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. She is known for her

figure painting A figure painting is a work of fine art in any of the Painting#Painting media, painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or Nude (art), nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such ...

s that challenge conventional understandings of the genre. While her painterly techniques evoke art historical precedents, her motifs are often inspired by popular culture, creating an underlying dichotomy between high and low and, by implication, sacred and profane, harmony and dissonance.

Education

Yuskavage was born in 1962 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She attended the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

, and studied abroad during her third year through the Tyler School of Art’s program in Rome, before obtaining her BFA in 1984. Yuskavage received her MFA from the

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

in 1986.

Work

Since the early 1990s, Yuskavage has been associated with a re-emergence of the figurative in contemporary painting. Of the artist’s paintings, critic Roberta Smith has written: "The combination of mixed subliminal messages, deliciously artificial color and forthright sexuality is characteristic of Ms. Yuskavage's work, as is the journey from high to low to lower culture within a relatively seamless whole." Yuskavage’s oeuvre is characterized by her ongoing engagement with the history of painting, and in particular the genre of the nude. Her paintings also encompass landscape and still life genres, with all three often appear within a single work. Yuskavage’s use of color is imbedded in Renaissance techniques as well as Color Field painting, and she cites diverse inspirations, including Italian painter

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

, Dutch painter

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , #Pronunciation of name, see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period Painting, painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class, middle-class life. ...

, and French painter

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

. Theoretically, her paintings are associated with psychologically driven theories of viewing, such as that of the

gaze In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the gaze (French ''le regard''), in the philosophical and figurative sense, is an individual's (or a group's) awareness and perception of other individuals, other groups, or oneself. The concept ...

.Christian Viveros-Fauné, "Cursed Beauty: The Painting of Lisa Yuskavage and the Goosing of the Great Tradition". ''Lisa Yuskavage'' (Museo Tamayo, 2006)
/ref> However, the complexities inherent in her paintings deny singular interpretation; as curator and critic Christian Viveros-Fauné explains: "Yuskavage’s oeuvre ... succeeds exactly to the degree that it refuses to be pinned down to any one of its many conflicted meanings. 'I only load the gun', uskavagehas been known to say to those who insist on viewing a painting as an explanation

She had a New York exhibit sell out before it opened, and one of her paintings sold at auction for more than $1 million. Yuskavage's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art,

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, Philadelphia (2000); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2001); Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2006); and

The Royal Hibernian Academy ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, Dublin (organized as part of Dublin Contemporary 2011). In September 2015, ''Lisa Yuskavage: The Brood'' opened at the

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent col ...

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

. This major solo exhibition presented the artist’s work spanning 25 years. Additionally, Yuskavage is featured in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

's new online series, ''The Artist Project'', launched in March 2015, in which she discusses

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior s ...

’s ''The Green Interior'' (1891). In 2020, The Baltimore Museum of Art and the

Aspen Art Museum Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in Aspen, Colorado. AAM exhibitions include drawings, paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations and electronic media. Aspen Art Museum Building ...

co-organized a solo presentation of the artist's work, ''Wilderness'', focusing on the ways she has used landscape in her work since the earliest watercolor Tit Heaven series from the 1990s. The exhibition was first shown at the Aspen Art Museum in 2020 and travelled to the Baltimore Museum of Art in spring 2021. Yuskavage's work was included in the 2022 exhibition ''Women Painting Women'' at the

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

In popular culture

Yuskavage's work ''Half-Family'' was featured in Season 2, Episode 4 ("Lynch Pin") of the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-nominated

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

series, ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

''. Her work is also mentioned in the novel '' China Rich Girlfriend'' of the

Crazy Rich Asians ''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on h ...

trilogy by

Kevin Kwan Kevin Kwan (born ) is a Singapore-born American novelist and writer of satirical novels ''Crazy Rich Asians'', ''China Rich Girlfriend'', and '' Rich People Problems''. His latest book, '' Sex and Vanity'', was released in June 2020. In 2014, ...

. In

Tamara Jenkins Tamara Jenkins (born May 2, 1962) is an American filmmaker and occasional actress. She is best known for her feature films ''Slums of Beverly Hills'' (1998), '' The Savages'' (2007), and ''Private Life'' (2018). Early life Jenkins was born in ...

' 2018 film ''Private Life'', main characters Rachel (

Kathryn Hahn Kathryn Marie Hahn (born July 23, 1973) is an American actress and comedian. She began her career on television, starring as grief counselor Lily Lebowski in the NBC crime drama series ''Crossing Jordan'' (2001–2007). Hahn gained prominence ap ...

) and Richard (

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

) claim to be good friends with Yuskavage, whose artwork, gifted to them as a wedding present, hangs in their living room.

Awards

Yuskavage has been the recipient of honors and awards that include the Aspen Award for Art (2019); Temple University Gallery of Success Award (2005); the Founder's Day Certificate of Honor, Tyler School of the Arts, Philadelphia (2000); the Tiffany Foundation Grant (1996); and the MacDowell Colony Fellowship (1994).

Notable works in public collections

*''Helga'' (1993),

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

*''Asspicking, Foodeating, Headshrinking, Socialclimbing, Motherfucking Bad Habits'' (1996),

*''Foodeater'' (1996), from ''The Bad Habits'' suite,

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

*''Red Head with Portraits'' (1996),

Weatherspoon Art Museum The Weatherspoon Art Museum is located at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in the southeast with a focus on American art. Its programming includes fifteen or more e ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

*''Wrist Corsage'' (1996),

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York *''Importance of Association II'' (1997),

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...

*''Importance of Association IV'' (1997), Denver Art Museum *''The Bad Habits'' suite (1996-1998),

Buffalo AKG Art Museum The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, New York *''Manifest Destiny'' (1997-1998),

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...

*''Night Flowers'' (1999),

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

; and Whitney Museum, New York *''Northview'' (2000),

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...

*''Northview'' (2000),

Rubell Museum The Rubell Museum, formerly the Rubell Family Collection, is a private contemporary art museum with locations in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Florida, and the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Opened to the public i ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

*''Big Northview'' (2001), Whitney Museum, New York *''Kathy on a Pedestal'' (2001), Museum of Modern Art, New York; and

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

*''Kathy Thinking'' (2002), Museum of Modern Art, New York; and

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

*''Curlie G.'' (2003),

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington, D.C. *''Lupe & Lola II'' (2003), Rubell Museum, Miami/Washington, D.C. *''Angel'' (2004),

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

*''Kingdom'' (2006), Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Whitney Museum, New York *''Persimmons'' (2006),

Kunstmuseum Den Haag The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I ...

The Hague, Netherlands The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

*''Forces'' (2007),

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

; and Museum of Modern Art, New York *''Bonfire'' (2013-2015),

, New York *''Night Classes at the Department of Painting Drawing and Sculpture'' (2018-2020), Art Institute of Chicago *''Pink Studio (Rendezvous)'' (2021), Museum of Modern Art, New York

Publications

*
Lisa Yuskavage: Wilderness
'. Text by Christopher Bedford, Helen Molesworth, and Heidi Zuckerman. Conversation with Mary Weatherford. Published by Gregory R. Mill & Co, 2020.
''Lisa Yuskavage'': ''Babie Brood / Small Paintings, 1985-2018''
Text by Jarrett Earnest. Foreword by Hanna Schouwink. Published by David Zwirner Books, New York, 2019.
''Lisa Yuskavage: The Brood, Paintings 1991-2015''
Texts by Christopher Bedford, Suzanne Hudson, Catherine Lord, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Katy Siegel. Published by Skira Rizzoli, New York, 2015.
''Lisa Yuskavage''
Published by David Zwirner, New York, 2006.

Texts by Tobias Ostrander and Christian Viveros-Fauné. Published by Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 2006.

Text by Tamara Jenkins. Published by Abrams Books, New York, 2004.
''Lisa Yuskavage''
Texts by Claudia Gould,

Marcia B. Hall Marcia Hall, who usually publishes as Marcia B. Hall, is an American art historian, who is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Renaissance Art at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture of Temple University in Philadelphia. Hall's scholarship has ...

, and Katy Siegel. Published by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1999.
''Lisa Yuskavage''
Texts by Chuck Close and Faye Hirsch. Published by Smart Art Press, Santa Monica, California, 1996.

References

External links

Lisa Yuskavage Official WebsiteLisa Yuskavage, ''The Artist's Project'', The Metropolitan Museum of ArtPeter Schjeldahl, “Odd Twins Lisa Yuskavage and Edouard Vuillard,” ''The New Yorker'', June 4, 2012Andrea Scott, “Dangerous Beauty,” ''The New Yorker'', October 24, 2011
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/12/arts/art-review-a-painter-who-loads-the-gun-and-lets-the-viewer-fire-it.html Roberta Smith, “A Painter Who Loads the Gun and Lets the Viewer Fire It,” ''The New York Times'', January 12, 2001]
Peter Schjeldahl, “Purple Nipple,” ''The Village Voice'', September 29, 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuskavage, Lisa 1962 births American women painters Living people American contemporary painters Artists from Philadelphia Painters from New York City Philadelphia High School for Girls alumni Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni Yale School of Art alumni 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists