Eric Fischl, Vanity, 1984 “Painted in 1984, Vanity was conceived partly as an in-joke between Fischl and the New York Times art critic, Peter Schjeldahl. It depicts a woman sitting naked in a garden, engrossed in the act of applying her make-up. Between the spread of her legs is an edition of Vanity Fair magazine from May 1984, open at a feature article about Fischl, written by Schjeldahl himself. A photograph of Fischl (taken by the famed photographer Arnold Newman) is positioned to suggest a phallus, or a miniature, fully developed human in the act of being born. The diminutive male figure also has parallels with the image of a small boy that Fischl includes in many of his most celebrated paintings, such as Bad Boy, 1981, caught in the act of stealing a glimpse of the naked women that fill his growing sexual imagination. The gigantic nature of the woman, in relation the male protagonist, is indicative of Fischl’s belief in the power and mystery of female sexuality.”

Eric Fischl, Vanity, 1984

“Painted in 1984, Vanity was conceived partly as an in-joke between Fischl and the New York Times art critic, Peter Schjeldahl. It depicts a woman sitting naked in a garden, engrossed in the act of applying her make-up. Between the spread of her legs is an edition of Vanity Fair magazine from May 1984, open at a feature article about Fischl, written by Schjeldahl himself. A photograph of Fischl (taken by the famed photographer Arnold Newman) is positioned to suggest a phallus, or a miniature, fully developed human in the act of being born. The diminutive male figure also has parallels with the image of a small boy that Fischl includes in many of his most celebrated paintings, such as Bad Boy, 1981, caught in the act of stealing a glimpse of the naked women that fill his growing sexual imagination. The gigantic nature of the woman, in relation the male protagonist, is indicative of Fischl’s belief in the power and mystery of female sexuality.”

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