Summary
Sleeping Man is one in a portfolio of fourteen drypoint etchings collectively titled Autobiographical Series. It depicts a man, wearing a coat and hat, apparently dozing in an armchair. Behind him a little face peeps between the bars of a window. Voyeurism is a theme frequently addressed in Bourgeois's works. In another image in this series, Toilette (P77682), a young woman is being spied on while she washes her hair. In Sleeping Man the gender of the watcher is not clear. The man's clothes appear dated, suggesting that this could be an image of the artist peeking on her husband and reversing the traditionally gender-defined roles of the voyeuristic gaze. Another image in the series, Man, Keys, Phone, Clock (P77689), also portrays a sleeping man… (read more)
Other works of art you may be interested in
