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拍品專文
“Sometimes the simple act of repainting an image of a woman previously painted by a man – re-authoring the work as by a woman – can be a potent shift in itself”—Lisa Brice.
Brice's first rendition of an image which is quickly becoming one of the most celebrated in the entire Contemporary art world, Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II is a tour-de-force of painting. Chosen for Lisa Brice's monographic exhibition at Tate Britain in 2018, as well as London's most lauded exhibition in recent memory, Life Between Islands Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now, this young work already has an extremely impressive institutional history. It is the ultimate demonstration of Brice’s celebrated practice of asserting women’s agency in art history. Taking well-known paintings, along with images from contemporary culture—many of which feature female figures, Brice establishes new narratives to transform the focus of art from objectified women into self-possessed female subjects. As the artist herself says, “As a figurative painter it is significant that historical figuration seems invariably created by white men for an audience of predominantly white men. Sometimes the simple act of repainting an image of a woman previously painted by a man – re-authoring the work as by a woman – can be a potent shift in itself” (L. Brice, “Q&A: Lisa Brice, Tate Etc. 1 May, 2018, online [accessed: 4/21/2025]).
Taking Édouard Manet’s Plum Brandy (c. 1877, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) as her starting point, Brice paints an intoxicating tropical daytime-drinking scene packed with a frisson of both psychological and visual energy. Executed on two monumental sheets of paper, on the left sheet, the bored young woman from Manet’s painting has been transformed with a confident gaze, a bottle of beer and a bucket hat. Rendered in electric blues and reds her vital presence is in stark contrast to her demure nineteenth-century counterpart. Elsewhere in this panel, two other figures populate the scene, one suggestively dancing, while a third looks on. In sharp contrast to Manet’s painting which depicts a solitary figure alone with her thoughts, Brice sets up a bold and active dialogue between these three women and their audience.
In addition to a dancing figure seen through a strip screen (advertising STAG beer, whose advertising slogan in Trinidad is "A Man's Beer"), the central subject of the right-hand panel is the character that populated another of Manet’s famous painting, the black cat from Olympia (c. 1863, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Academics have long discussed the symbolism of the black cat in Manet’s work. The French word for cat—chatte—has long been used as slang for female genitalia, and its ‘aroused’ position, together with its nocturnal promiscuity, alludes to Manet’s depicting of Olympia as a prostitute. However, it’s aggressive, defensive, posture in Brice’s painting leads us to assume that any suggested sexual connotations belong to the women in the painting, and not to the male viewer or artist.
In addition to Brice’s reinterpretation of art historical narratives, her use of color plays a central role in imbuing her subjects with their own power, rather than having it conveyed to them by others. In addition to a sense of vitality and vibrancy, color—particularly the cobalt blues with which she envelops many of her figures—has a symbolic importance too. In 2000, Brice participated in a residency program in Trinidad, along with the painters Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, with all three subsequently making the island their home in some form or another. It was during this first meeting that they met the artist, poet, and musician Emheyo Bahabba. Known to family and friends as Embah, Brice had many long conversations with him in the bar across from her studio, and his love and knowledge of Trinidadian culture proved to be a lasting influence on her work. “I did my first blue drawing in an attempt to imitate the blue light of neon signs, which led to trying to capture the fleeting color of twilight in paint, the transitional gloaming hour. It has gone on to accumulate further meaning as the work has progressed. I associate it with the Trinidadian ‘Blue Devil’, a formidable Carnival character. Masqueraders are emboldened by a coating of cobalt blue paint, possibly made originally from Reckitt’s Blue powder, which is found throughout the colonies of the British Empire for bluing whites and is also associated with skin bleaching. This notion of a masked identity was employed during slavery, when the character was born, freeing the revelers from accountability” (Ibid.).
Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II has been exhibited in two institutional retrospectives at Tate Britain: Art Now: Lisa Brice between April-August 2018, and Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now which ran from December 2021 to April 2022. Her work is also included in the permanent collections of museums such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington. D.C. By combining historical and cultural sources, Brice regards her paintings as sites of reclamation, in which women assert the right to express themselves without male intervention and in the process overturning centuries of the male-dominated gaze.
Brice's first rendition of an image which is quickly becoming one of the most celebrated in the entire Contemporary art world, Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II is a tour-de-force of painting. Chosen for Lisa Brice's monographic exhibition at Tate Britain in 2018, as well as London's most lauded exhibition in recent memory, Life Between Islands Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now, this young work already has an extremely impressive institutional history. It is the ultimate demonstration of Brice’s celebrated practice of asserting women’s agency in art history. Taking well-known paintings, along with images from contemporary culture—many of which feature female figures, Brice establishes new narratives to transform the focus of art from objectified women into self-possessed female subjects. As the artist herself says, “As a figurative painter it is significant that historical figuration seems invariably created by white men for an audience of predominantly white men. Sometimes the simple act of repainting an image of a woman previously painted by a man – re-authoring the work as by a woman – can be a potent shift in itself” (L. Brice, “Q&A: Lisa Brice, Tate Etc. 1 May, 2018, online [accessed: 4/21/2025]).
Taking Édouard Manet’s Plum Brandy (c. 1877, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) as her starting point, Brice paints an intoxicating tropical daytime-drinking scene packed with a frisson of both psychological and visual energy. Executed on two monumental sheets of paper, on the left sheet, the bored young woman from Manet’s painting has been transformed with a confident gaze, a bottle of beer and a bucket hat. Rendered in electric blues and reds her vital presence is in stark contrast to her demure nineteenth-century counterpart. Elsewhere in this panel, two other figures populate the scene, one suggestively dancing, while a third looks on. In sharp contrast to Manet’s painting which depicts a solitary figure alone with her thoughts, Brice sets up a bold and active dialogue between these three women and their audience.
In addition to a dancing figure seen through a strip screen (advertising STAG beer, whose advertising slogan in Trinidad is "A Man's Beer"), the central subject of the right-hand panel is the character that populated another of Manet’s famous painting, the black cat from Olympia (c. 1863, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Academics have long discussed the symbolism of the black cat in Manet’s work. The French word for cat—chatte—has long been used as slang for female genitalia, and its ‘aroused’ position, together with its nocturnal promiscuity, alludes to Manet’s depicting of Olympia as a prostitute. However, it’s aggressive, defensive, posture in Brice’s painting leads us to assume that any suggested sexual connotations belong to the women in the painting, and not to the male viewer or artist.
In addition to Brice’s reinterpretation of art historical narratives, her use of color plays a central role in imbuing her subjects with their own power, rather than having it conveyed to them by others. In addition to a sense of vitality and vibrancy, color—particularly the cobalt blues with which she envelops many of her figures—has a symbolic importance too. In 2000, Brice participated in a residency program in Trinidad, along with the painters Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, with all three subsequently making the island their home in some form or another. It was during this first meeting that they met the artist, poet, and musician Emheyo Bahabba. Known to family and friends as Embah, Brice had many long conversations with him in the bar across from her studio, and his love and knowledge of Trinidadian culture proved to be a lasting influence on her work. “I did my first blue drawing in an attempt to imitate the blue light of neon signs, which led to trying to capture the fleeting color of twilight in paint, the transitional gloaming hour. It has gone on to accumulate further meaning as the work has progressed. I associate it with the Trinidadian ‘Blue Devil’, a formidable Carnival character. Masqueraders are emboldened by a coating of cobalt blue paint, possibly made originally from Reckitt’s Blue powder, which is found throughout the colonies of the British Empire for bluing whites and is also associated with skin bleaching. This notion of a masked identity was employed during slavery, when the character was born, freeing the revelers from accountability” (Ibid.).
Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II has been exhibited in two institutional retrospectives at Tate Britain: Art Now: Lisa Brice between April-August 2018, and Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now which ran from December 2021 to April 2022. Her work is also included in the permanent collections of museums such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington. D.C. By combining historical and cultural sources, Brice regards her paintings as sites of reclamation, in which women assert the right to express themselves without male intervention and in the process overturning centuries of the male-dominated gaze.