STAINED GLASS PANEL OF A FEMALE FIGURE

Brief description: Stained glass panel of a female figure, probably a siren standing near a cave, a fountain, a gloved hand and some bananas. Designed and made by Pauline Boty.

A siren is a figure from Greek Mythology, which sings beautiful songs to tempt sailors to wreck themselves on her shores. In Christian thought, sirens became associated with sexual temptation. This piece, full of Freudian imagery, plays with sexual themes. The siren, draped in thin cloth which barely conceals her breasts and genitals, raises her arms to create a phallic silhouette. The bananas on the left hand side are also phallic, as perhaps are the gushing waterfalls above it. The cave, with a face like a screaming mouth, is a vulvic image. It is based on a doorway in the Garden of Bomarzo in Italy, which is designed to look like Orcus, the punisher of broken oaths in the Underworld. The gloved hand on the right has a somewhat intrusive air. The panel is rendered in white glass with beautifully painted black details, except for a swathe of red glass behind the hand and the siren. The symbolism challenges the sexual inequality of the 1950s and 60s in which Boty lived. Pauline Boty (1938-1966) was a British painter, prominent feminist, and co-founder of the Pop art movement..

Object type: stained glass panel

Number of objects: 1

Production date: 1958-1962

Production period: 20th century, mid

Designer: Pauline Boty (1938 - 1966)

Manufacturer: Boty, Pauline 1938=1966

Dimensions: Height: 429 mm, Width: 552 mm

Acquisition: loan 9.6.2016

Acquisition source: Milne, J.

Accession number: ELYGM:L2009.4