About the exhibition
Deborah Klein
Natural Histories
7-30 October 2010
Click here for more information on Deborah Klein
In recent years Deborah Klein has been investigating traditional fairytales, mythology, fables and folklore.
Her work reflects upon natural history taxonomy and the achievements of 19th century colonial women artists. Forced to work outside of the system (led by London’s Royal Academy) with limited access to tuition, they were herded into ‘gendered genres’: portrait miniatures, natural history painting and landscapes. If not quite rendering them invisible, it ensured that they remained marginalized. But a significant number managed to rise above the constraints that were placed upon their work and lives. The isolation in which they lived and worked enabled a certain degree of artistic freedom. The minutia that these artists portrayed with such remarkable understanding and skill was reflective of their own scaled down worlds.
From these foundations, Deborah has assembled a cast of entirely new characters. They include the mysterious masked Moth Women, and a fantastical swarm of Winged Women. Despite the allusion to natural history classification, these are not merely museum specimens confined to glass cabinets, but a series of wondrous new hybrid species.
Deborah has also written some tales of her own. These have recently been assembled in the small anthology There was once…The collected fairy tales, which is limited to 1000 copies. Exclusive to the first 20 copies is the linocut Lace Lepidopteran, (2010, edition 20.) It is based on the illustration to Moth Eaten, one of the stories in the book.
Click here for more information on Deborah Klein
