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Left: Jenny Saville. Photo: A. Saville. Right: Martin Gayford. Photo: Geraint Lewis

In Conversation

Jenny Saville
Martin Gayford

Friday, November 18, 2022, 6:30pm
Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London

Join Gagosian for a conversation between Jenny Saville and art critic and author Martin Gayford in conjunction with the exhibition Friends and Relations: Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews opening at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, on November 17. Taking Saville’s momentous encounter with Francis Bacon’s work in his 1985 Tate retrospective in London as a starting point, the pair will discuss the revelatory influence the artists in the exhibition have had on Saville’s own practice, as well as how her continued exploration of the human form relates to how these masters of portraiture have approached the subject. Gayford will also speak with the artist about her most recent works on view in the exhibition Jenny Saville: Latent at Gagosian, rue de Castiglione, Paris, through December 22.

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Left: Jenny Saville. Photo: A. Saville. Right: Martin Gayford. Photo: Geraint Lewis

Jenny Saville, Chasah, 2020 © Jenny Saville

In Conversation

Jenny Saville
Skarlet Smatana

Wednesday, November 9, 2022, 4–5pm
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
britishart.yale.edu

Jenny Saville will speak with Skarlet Smatana, director of the George Economou Collection in Athens, as part of the Yale Center for British Art’s Artists in Conversation series, which brings together curators and artists to share insights into their work. The pair will discuss Saville’s practice and her interest in the human body and imperfections of the flesh. The event is free and open to the public.

Jenny Saville, Chasah, 2020 © Jenny Saville

Georg Baselitz, Schlafzimmer, 2021 © Georg Baselitz 2021. Photo: Jochen Littkemann

Auction

The Art of Wishes 2021

Monday, October 11, 2021
Natural History Museum, London
www.artofwishes.com

Founded by philanthropist and Make‐A‐Wish patron Batia Ofer, the Art of Wishes is a charitable initiative that brings the international art community together to raise funds for Make-A-Wish UK, a nonprofit organization that grants the wishes of children with critical illnesses. The fourth annual Art of Wishes benefit auction and gala will take place at the Natural History Museum in London. The auction will be hosted on Artsy, with a preview of the artworks open to the public from October 2 through 8 at Sotheby’s London. More than twenty works by leading international artists such as Georg Baselitz, Jenny Saville, Kon Trubkovich, and others will be included.

Georg Baselitz, Schlafzimmer, 2021 © Georg Baselitz 2021. Photo: Jochen Littkemann

Jenny Saville: Oxyrhynchus (London: Gagosian, 2015)

Online Reading

Jenny Saville
Oxyrhynchus

Jenny Saville: Oxyrhynchus is available for online reading from July 22 through August 21 as part of Artist Spotlight: Jenny Saville. This publication features more than a dozen works from 2006 to 2014 in which the artist references the layer upon layer of discoveries at Oxyrhynchus, a city in upper Egypt that was established in 332 bce and is considered one of the world’s most important archaeological sites. The final effect is a mysterious narrative of layered bodies and images, conveyed in a combination of oil, charcoal, and pastel. An essay by art historian John Elderfield, built around the observations of multiple past voices and the artist herself, captures the temporal culture of visual art to which the Oxyrhynchus canvases belong.

Jenny Saville: Oxyrhynchus (London: Gagosian, 2015)

Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now (London: Gagosian, 2020)

Book Launch

Visions of the Self
Rembrandt and Now

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 6:30–8:30pm
Kenwood House, London
www.english-heritage.org.uk

In the interest of public health, this event has been postponed until further notice.

Gagosian is pleased to host a drinks reception to celebrate the release of Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now, published on the occasion of the recent eponymous exhibition at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London. Organized in partnership with English Heritage, the exhibition places Rembrandt’s masterpiece Self-Portrait with Two Circles (c. 1665) in dialogue with self-portraits by Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucian Freud, and Pablo Picasso, as well as leading contemporary artists such as Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Giuseppe Penone, Richard Prince, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, and Rudolf Stingel, among others. The catalogue includes an introduction by Wendy Monkhouse, senior curator at English Heritage, and a text by art historian David Freedberg. To attend the free event, RSVP to londonevents@gagosian.com. Space is limited.

Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now (London: Gagosian, 2020)

Jenny Saville, Self-Portrait (after Rembrandt), 2019 © Jenny Saville

In Conversation

Jenny Saville
David Dawson

Wednesday, November 6, 2019, 6:30–7:45pm
Royal Academy of Arts, London
www.royalacademy.org.uk

On the occasion of the exhibition Lucian Freud: The Self-Portraits at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, Jenny Saville will speak with David Dawson, cocurator of the show. Saville will reflect on her relationship with self-portraiture and the effect it has had on her career, while Dawson will offer insight into Freud’s approach to the theme. The talk will be chaired by RA artistic director Tim Marlow. The event has reached capacity.

Jenny Saville, Self-Portrait (after Rembrandt), 2019 © Jenny Saville

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Announcements

Jenny Saville being awarded le Chiavi della Città di Firenze (Keys of the City of Florence) by Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy, 2021

Honor

Jenny Saville
Le Chiavi della Città di Firenze

Jenny Saville has been given the keys to Florence, Italy, by the city’s mayor, Dario Nardella, in a special ceremony on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. The prestigious honor was conferred on the occasion of Saville’s multipart exhibition at five museums in Florence, which places her paintings and drawings in dialogue with masterworks of the Italian Renaissance and is on view through February 20, 2022.

Jenny Saville being awarded le Chiavi della Città di Firenze (Keys of the City of Florence) by Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy, 2021

Joanna Vestey, Jenny Saville RA, December 2020, 2020 © Joanna Vestey

Support

Masked
Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville and twenty-three other leading figures in the arts, education, communications, and law were photographed wearing masks for Masked, a portrait series by Joanna Vestey. The limited-edition prints are being sold through March 31, 2021, to raise funds for AT The Bus, a charity that provides art therapy programs to school-age children in Oxfordshire and London out of a refitted double-decker bus. To purchase a print, visit www.atthebus.org.uk.

Joanna Vestey, Jenny Saville RA, December 2020, 2020 © Joanna Vestey

Still from “Jenny Saville: Life through a Microscope”

Video

Jenny Saville
Life through a Microscope

In this video produced by the National Galleries of Scotland, Jenny Saville speaks about her practice on the occasion of her major survey at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, in 2018. She discusses her identity as a “picture maker,” the artistic freedom that having children has given her, and the importance of Titian.

Still from “Jenny Saville: Life through a Microscope”

Theaster Gates, Bono, and David Adjaye. Photo: Rankin

Auction

(RED) Auction

Live auction: Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Online auction: November 12–December 7, 2018
Exhibition: December 1–7, 2018
Moore Building, Miami

Gagosian is pleased to announce the third (RED) Auction to support the fight against AIDS, organized in partnership with (RED) and Sotheby’s.

Bono, the driving force behind (RED), invited artist Theaster Gates and architect Sir David Adjaye to cocurate a selection of contemporary art and design that will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on December 5, 2018, during Art Basel in Miami Beach and Design Miami/ 2018. Gagosian will present a preview exhibition of the works at the famed Moore Building in Miami, which will open on World AIDS Day, December 1.

Artists donating works include Ai Weiwei, Christo, Rachel Feinstein, Teresita Fernández, Frank Gehry, Jennifer Guidi, Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson, Jeff Koons, Guillermo Kuitca, Marilyn Minter, Wangechi Mutu, Jenny Saville, and Sean Scully; Adjaye and Gates will also contribute unique pieces.

Proceeds from this year’s auction will support community-based programs in Africa through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, while also providing assistance to fight HIV through community-strengthening programs in Chicago with Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation. For additional information, please contact Lidia Andich at redauction@gagosian.com.

View the auction catalogue (PDF)

Theaster Gates, Bono, and David Adjaye. Photo: Rankin

Jenny Saville

Video

Jenny Saville
Why Human Bodies Fascinate

On the occasion of her 2016 exhibition Erota at Gagosian Davies Street, London, Jenny Saville speaks with Channel 4 News about her fascination with bodies, her observations on gender, and being an observer.

Jenny Saville

Video

Jenny Saville
Nicholas Cullinan

Jenny Saville speaks with Tate Modern curator Nicholas Cullinan about her practice on the occasion of her exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford in 2012.

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Museum Exhibitions

Jenny Saville, Fate 3, 2018 © Jenny Saville. All rights reserved, DACS 2022. Photo: Mike Bruce

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Hi Woman!
La notizia del futuro

December 1, 2021–March 27, 2022
Museo di Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Italy
www.palazzopretorio.prato.it

Curated by Francesco Bonami, this exhibition, whose subtitle translates to The News of the Future, places painting, sculpture, video, and sound works by twenty-two women artists in dialogue with the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio’s permanent collection. The featured works examine the concept of “annunciation” and underline the centrality of the female subject in ancient and contemporary narratives Work by Huma Bhabha and Jenny Saville is included.

Jenny Saville, Fate 3, 2018 © Jenny Saville. All rights reserved, DACS 2022. Photo: Mike Bruce

Jenny Saville, Study for the Eyes of Argus, 2021 (detail) © Jenny Saville. All rights reserved, DACS 2021. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

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Jenny Saville

September 30, 2021–February 27, 2022
Various venues in Florence, Italy
www.museonovecento.it

Jenny Saville is the subject of an exhibition project conceived and curated by Sergio Risaliti, director of the Museo Novecento, in collaboration with four other major museums in Florence: Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Museo degli Innocenti, and Museo di Casa Buonarroti. The multipart exhibition places Saville’s paintings and drawings in dialogue with masterworks of the Italian Renaissance, including some of Michelangelo’s greatest masterpieces, offering a revealing encounter between the contemporary and the historical. Correspondences include the monumentality of Saville’s paintings—a distinctive feature of her figurative language since her early career—as well as her research focused on the body and flesh of her naked subjects. 

Jenny Saville, Study for the Eyes of Argus, 2021 (detail) © Jenny Saville. All rights reserved, DACS 2021. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Lil’ Barbara, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn

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Person of Interest

January 31, 2020–July 3, 2021
Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
sheldonartmuseum.org

Exploring nuances in portraiture from the late nineteenth century to today—and testing the very definition of the genre—Person of Interest presents depictions of the literal and abstracted body from Sheldon’s rich holdings and selected loans. This exhibition asks open-ended questions about self-fashioning, cultural memory, gender identity, and the performance of identity. In doing so, it prompts conversations about race and representation, institutional power, and lived experiences. Work by Nathaniel Mary Quinn and Jenny Saville is included.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Lil’ Barbara, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Installation view, The Human Body, Hill Art Foundation, New York, April 29–June 26, 2021. Artwork, left to right: © Jenny Saville, © Richard Prince, © Ron Mueck, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens. Photo: Matthew Herrmann

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The Human Body

April 29–June 26, 2021
Hill Art Foundation, New York
hillartfoundation.org

This exhibition, curated from the Hill Collection by Karel Schampers, examines the human body through figurative work from the last five hundred years. The installation spans two floors and visitors are encouraged to view the works from different levels and vantage points, creating a dialogue across diverse periods and mediums. The foundation’s collection of Renaissance bronzes  is featured alongside works by artists such as Francis Bacon, Richard Prince, Jenny Saville, Rudolf Stingel, and Andy Warhol.

Installation view, The Human Body, Hill Art Foundation, New York, April 29–June 26, 2021. Artwork, left to right: © Jenny Saville, © Richard Prince, © Ron Mueck, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens. Photo: Matthew Herrmann

Installation view, Inspiraatio—Nykytaide & Klassikot, Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, June 18–September 20, 2020. Artwork, left to right: © Glenn Brown, © Wolfe von Lenkiewicz. Photo: Hannu Pakarinen

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Inspiraatio—Nykytaide & Klassikot

June 18–September 20, 2020
Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki
ateneum.fi

This exhibition, whose title translates to Inspiration—Contemporary Art and Classics, explores contemporary art inspired by iconic masterpieces. Here, the original works are referenced through replicas, prints, plaster casts, and an abundance of archival materials. This exhibition has traveled from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, under the title Inspiration: Iconic Works. Work by Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, Jeff Koons, and Jenny Saville is included.

Installation view, Inspiraatio—Nykytaide & Klassikot, Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, June 18–September 20, 2020. Artwork, left to right: © Glenn Brown, © Wolfe von Lenkiewicz. Photo: Hannu Pakarinen

Jenny Saville, Electra, 2012–19 © Jenny Saville. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

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Jenny Saville in
Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media

January 24–August 23, 2020
Foundling Museum, London
foundlingmuseum.org.uk

Through paintings, prints, photographs, objects, and clothing from the fifteenth century to the present day, this show aims to explore the different ways in which pregnancy was, or was not, represented in art and society; how shifting social attitudes have impacted depictions of pregnant women; how the possibility of death in childbirth brought additional tension to such representations; and how more recent images, which often reflect increased female agency and empowerment, still remain highly charged. Work by Jenny Saville is included.

Jenny Saville, Electra, 2012–19 © Jenny Saville. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Glenn Brown, Reproduction, 2014 © Glenn Brown

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Inspiration
Iconic Works

February 20–May 17, 2020
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
www.nationalmuseum.se

This exhibition presents contemporary art that draws inspiration from historic masterpieces. A selection of paintings, plaster sculptures, drawings, graphic prints, and applied arts from Nationalmuseum’s vast collections are displayed in dialogue with contemporary objects. Work by Glenn Brown, Jeff Koons, Jenny Saville, and Cindy Sherman is included.

Glenn Brown, Reproduction, 2014 © Glenn Brown

Jenny Saville, Portrait of Lola, 2019 © Jenny Saville

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The Aerodrome
An exhibition dedicated to the memory of Michael Stanley

June 12–September 8, 2019
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England
www.ikon-gallery.org

This exhibition, dedicated to the memory of former Ikon director Michael Stanley, is structured loosely on Rex Warner’s 1941 wartime novel The Aerodrome, a book that made a great impression on Stanley. The show features many of the artists he worked with, including Michael Craig-Martin, Thomas Houseago, and Jenny Saville.

Jenny Saville, Portrait of Lola, 2019 © Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville, Intertwine, 2011–14 © Jenny Saville

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Jenny Saville

June 18, 2018–March 15, 2019
George Economou Collection, Athens
www.thegeorgeeconomoucollection.com

This focused presentation, featuring nine works dating from 1993 to 2015, provided an overview of Jenny Saville’s career. It included the important early painting Cindy (1993), which introduced Saville’s concern with corporeality, as well as a group of works made between 2011 to 2015 that show the artist’s shift from single to multiple figures and an increased layering of forms.

Jenny Saville, Intertwine, 2011–14 © Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville, Untitled (Stare Study III), 2005–06 © Jenny Saville

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Bacon, Freud, and the School of London Painters

October 9, 2018–January 13, 2019
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
mng.hu

In the decades following World War II, Bacon, Freud, and their British contemporaries engaged with subjects that felt immediate and intensely personal. This exhibition retraces their artistic developments via works, including paintings and drawings, spanning seven decades. Despite the sheer diversity of approaches and techniques that embodied their practices, the members of this group were constantly renewing their individual appraisals of the artist’s personal position in the world, focusing on individuals, locations, and narratives close and dear to them. The exhibition was initially produced under the title Bacon, Freud, and the London Painters by ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark. Work by Michael Andrews, Francis Bacon, Glenn Brown, Alberto Giacometti, and Jenny Saville is included.

Jenny Saville, Untitled (Stare Study III), 2005–06 © Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville, Rosetta II, 2005–06 © Jenny Saville

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Now
Jenny Saville

March 24–September 16, 2018
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
www.nationalgalleries.org

This presentation marked the first museum exhibition of Jenny Saville’s work ever to be staged in Scotland. Featuring monumental paintings and drawings that Saville, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, completed between 1992 and 2018, the show explored her singular and dynamic approach to gesture, composition, materials, and subject matter.

Jenny Saville, Rosetta II, 2005–06 © Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville, Reverse, 2003 © Jenny Saville

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All Too Human
Bacon, Freud, and a Century of Painting Life

February 28–August 27, 2018
Tate Britain, London
www.tate.org.uk

In the decades following World War II, Bacon, Freud, and their British contemporaries engaged with subjects that felt immediate and intensely personal. This exhibition retraces their artistic developments via works, including paintings and drawings, spanning seven decades. Despite the sheer diversity of approaches and techniques that embodied their practices, the members of this group were constantly renewing their individual appraisals of the artist’s personal position in the world, focusing on individuals, locations, and narratives close and dear to them. The exhibition was initially produced under the title Bacon, Freud, and the London Painters by ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark. Work by Michael Andrews, Francis Bacon, and Jenny Saville is included.

Jenny Saville, Reverse, 2003 © Jenny Saville

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