In her individual and group portraits of women and girls, Joffe explores themes from childhood and adolescence to motherhood, confronting in each case the physicality of the human body and the complexities of human emotions. This exhibition presents over 50 works, highlighting Joffe’s distinctive contribution to contemporary figurative painting.
Shown alongside will be works, selected by Joffe, by the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907). Modersohn-Becker died shortly after giving birth to her first child, at the age of 31. Today, she is recognised as being among the first female artists to paint a nude self-portrait and, later, a series of self-portraits while she was pregnant – subjects which are taken up in the Joffe paintings on show.
The exhibition opens to coincide with The Lowry’s biennial Week 53 festival (17–28 May). Find out more about the Chantal Joffe exhibition from The Lowry’s website.
Preview the exhibition below | See Apollo’s Picks of the Week here
Self-Portrait Pregnant (2) (2004), Chantal Joffe. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice; © Chantal Joffe
The Squid and the Whale (2017), Chantal Joffe. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice; © Chantal Joffe
My Mother with Fern (2017), Chantal Joffe. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice; © Chantal Joffe
Esme in a Yellow Dress (2016), Chantal Joffe. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice; © Chantal Joffe
Poppy, Esme, Oleanna, Gracie and Kate (2014), Chantal Joffe. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice; © Chantal Joffe
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