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11 April
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13 August 2006 Tate Liverpool |
Motesiczky created a compelling series of self-portraits throughout her life that dealt with her dual status as woman and artist. In the self-portraits, Motesiczky confronts various aspects of her personality, her appearance, her age, her profession and her relationships. The self-portraits are an outstanding record of self-observation, chronicling her life over a period of sixty-seven years.
The iconic Self-Portrait with Red Hat 1938, painted during Motesiczky's initial exile to the Netherlands, exemplifies Motesiczky's work and personal experience at the time of her emigration. Despite the recent upheaval of her exile, the artist is depicted in fashionable attire. She tips her hat coquettishly; perhaps to shield herself from the shadowy face intruding on the right
hand side of the composition, hinting at the threat she has escaped. This figure has also been interpreted as an unidentified lover, left behind. Her escape from the London Blitz and the start of a complicated love affair with a married man lend Self-Portrait in Green 1942 an air of anxiety and alarm. A haunting image of life in exile, Three Heads 1944 shows Motesiczky on a bus, seated between two other passengers, yet isolated in the crowd. In Self-Portrait with Pears 1965, the artist is faced with the onset of old age and loneliness and appears to be meditating on the nature and loss of beauty. In the defiant Last Self-Portrait 1993, Motesiczky adopts a regal posture, while a hat covers her sparse hair, now white. The aristocratic aloofness of this impressive figure conveys a sense of victory over age and beauty.