Marlene Dumas - Praying

Artist: Marlene Dumas
Technique: Lithograph
Signature: Hand signed
Marlene Dumas
Praying
Color Lithograph,
Signed & Dated
1984
Small edition of 45, this is number 22
Printing company: Zeger Reijers, Rotterdam.
Sheet size: 55. 5 x 75. 5 cm
With frame 86 x 65 cm
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Work on paper depicting a woman's face, depicted in black and white. The woman is depicted up to the chest, facing forward and looking at the viewer. She wears long hair, some of which is highlighted with yellow. She holds her hands together under her face, in a praying position. Above the woman is a diamond shape with yellow outer edges. The whole is enclosed in a black wavy line. Signed at the bottom center, with "As good as gold" at the top and "gold fever" at the bottom.
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Marlene Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town and raised on her family's vineyard near the Kuils River, in the southwest of South Africa. She studied painting at the Michaelis School of Fine Art of the University of Cape Town in the 1970s, where she came into contact with art theory and conceptual art. However, she was most influenced by photography, especially the work of Diane Arbus. Dumas moved to Amsterdam in 1976, where she still lives and works. During these formative years, Dumas made collages, combined with clipped photographs, text and drawings. Marlene Dumas lived with artist Jan Andriesse until his death in August 2021. The theme of contrast, which she had to deal with a lot in her life in South Africa during apartheid (whites versus blacks, cultural differences, confrontation of the sexes) , influenced her work.