- 164
Paula Rego
Description
- Paula Rego
- Untitled (Girl Shaving a Dog)
- acrylic on paper
- 112 by 76cm.; 44 by 30in.
- Executed in 1986.
Provenance
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
London, Serpentine Gallery, Paula Rego, 1988, p. 33, no. 35, illustrated in colour
Liverpool, Tate Gallery, Paula Rego: Retrospective, 1997
Literature
Fiona Bradley, Paula Rego, London 2002, p. 33, no. 25, illustrated in colour
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Victor Willing was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1960s and his health declined rapidly in the 1980s until his death in 1988. Part of a series entitled Girl and Dog executed in 1986, which directly deals with Rego’s violent and ambiguous feelings while caring for her sick husband, the present work stands amongst some of the most powerful and personal pictures Rego ever created. A young woman, sitting in a nursing chair, shaves a dog’s chin and throat as if it were a man - the absurdity of shaving a dog’s face and neck implies an anthropomorphisation of the animal. That the dog/man needs to be cared for and groomed by someone else suggests a situation of emasculating infantilisation of the powerless subject. However, the female protagonist’s facial expression is closed and focused rather than nurturing, and the position of the razor on the unsuspecting and trusting animal’s throat seems threatening. Through the servile act of caring for the poor creature, she holds the power in her hand. The conflict of care/abuse, fear/cruelty, shaving/slaying, love/disgust evident in the present work mirrors the feelings experienced by Rego when the balance of power in her marriage shifted after her untameable, virile husband fell ill. According to Rego, her husband “Vic wasn't a fool; he saw what [these paintings] were. He liked them. The series was the nearest I got to being able to feel through the pictures” (Paula Rego quoted in: Maya Jaggi, “Secret Histories”, The Guardian, 17 July 2004). The submissive man-creature in the present work seems to be the antithesis to Rego’s later Dog Women from the eponymous series which she started in 1994, a few years after Victor’s passing. However, even though the Dog Women are zoomorphised women-creatures which appear empowered and beast-like, they are represented howling after their absent master or submissively coiled up sleeping on their coat, waiting. Paula Rego carved her place in contemporary art by painting the perversion that cannot be spoken, by exposing domestic cruelty hidden behind innocent means. In the poignant and beautiful Untitled (Girl Shaving a Dog), she brought her unbridled honesty ever closer to home.