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Joan Brown Seated

At first glance, Joan Brown Seated could be mistaken for a plaster cast victim of Pompeii. She sits nude, bent slightly forward so her torso touches her legs, bent at ninety degrees. The figure lacks arms on either side, her face only has smooth suggestions of features, and her ankles merge together and her feet are cut off. Manuel Neri initially sculpted this figure in plaster and it shows many features of plaster: bubble holes on the surface and hard edges where the material appears carved away. But this piece was then re-cast in aluminum, then given the Alborada patina finish that gives it back the appearance of plaster. Measuring thirty by twenty-seven by twelve and a half inches, the plaster sculpture was made in 1959, cast in aluminum in 1963, and the re-patina applied in 2016.

Joan’s pose is symmetrical. Her neck is outstretched and she looks straight forward with a face that gives the impression that it is shrouded in a tight white cloth. Her nose and mouth look pressed down and she only has a couple dents as eyes. The left side of her body seems more in progress. The left side of her torso is rough with a ragged carved surface including a flat oval where her shoulder cuts off. Her left cheek has gouges and there is no hint of a left ear. The side of her left thigh has a rough patch like a large burn scar but the rest is relatively smooth with bubble holes in her shin. Her ankles morph together and just below that, her feet are cut off into a blocky nub.

Her right half is more polished. Her right breast and legs are both smooth and rounded as is her shoulder where her arm should be. The back of her neck and top of her head are smooth on the right side though she has some carving marks on her cheek, collar, and right flank.

In the gallery, the sculpture sits on a glossy black pedestal that dimly reflects the sculpture.