Artwork Description
Monica Lundy – Virginia (Virginia Woolf)
Dimensions: 57 x 59″ finished size
Year: 2020
Medium: gouache and charcoal on paper
Lundy says about this work: “The exhibition, Physiognomy of the Abandoned, features portraits of patients from various historic, international asylums. Based on research conducted at various legendary psychiatric hospital archives, many of the portraits feature patients whose lives and stories have been long forgotten in time. While working with documents and images of the anonymous masses, I found myself reflecting on how this tragic history has also directly involved the lives of so many individuals of cultural significance, including famous artists, writers, musicians and many more. The two portraits, Camille and Virginia were born of my desire to shed light on this frequently over-looked fact. “Camille” is a portrait of the French sculptor Camille Claudel, who spent the last 30 years of her life in a psychiatric hospital. “Virginia” is a portrait of the English writer Virginia Woolf, who was admitted to psychiatric hospitals several times before she eventually took her own life. These portraits are meant to illuminate this aspect of history, and honor the individuals who endured them.”
Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and also a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. In 1912, she married Leonard Woolf, and in 1917 the couple founded the Hogarth Press, which published much of her work. She was an crucial part of London’s literary and artistic society. In 1915 she published her first novel, “The Voyage Out.” Her best-known works include the novels “Mrs Dalloway” (1925), “To the Lighthouse” (1927), and “Orlando” (1928). She is also known for her essays, including “A Room of One’s Own” (1929), in which she wrote the much-quoted dictum, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”