Sylvia Sleigh

Who was Sylvia Sleigh?

Sylvia Sleigh was a Welsh-born naturalised American realist painter.

After studying at the Brighton School of Art, she had her first solo exhibition in 1953 at the Kensington Art Gallery.

She married Lawrence Alloway, an art critic, before moving to the United States in 1961. The following year, Alloway became a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Around 1970, from feminist principles, she painted a series of works reversing stereotypical artistic themes by featuring naked men in poses usually associated with women. Some directly alluded to existing works, such as her gender-reversed version of Ingres's The Turkish Bath. Philip Golub Reclining alludes similarly to the Rokeby Venus by Velázquez.

Other works equalize the roles of men and women, such as the 1976 Concert Champetre, in which all the characters are nude, unlike its similarly composed namesake by Titian, in which only the women are. She comments on her works: "I feel that my paintings stress the equality of men & women. To me, women were often portrayed as sex objects in humiliating poses. I wanted to give my perspective. I liked to portray both man and woman as intelligent and thoughtful people with dignity and humanism that emphasized love and joy".