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Lot Essay
Daring and ferocious, Miriam Cahn’s (gebet / unklar) in die zukunft, 18.11.1997 + 24.11.2002 ((Prayer / Unclear) in the Future, 18.11.1997 + 24.11.2002) (1997) is a stunning depiction of resistance. Set within a dark expanse, Cahn’s protagonist is enhaloed in an almost nuclear crimson. Light seems to emanate from within her body, and although nude, her eyes have been masked in acid blue. Cahn is known for her ethereal outlines that, unlike the hard edges long used in so many compositions, create ‘transitions rather than borders,’ capturing ‘bodies in a process of dissolution’ (J. Scheller, ‘Miriam Cahn’s Fragmented Bodies’, Frieze, Issue 7, 2012). The present painting was completed shortly after the artist began to work in colour, which dazzles here with radioactive intensity. In a strategy reminiscent of On Kawara’s Today series, its wistful title—gebet translates to ‘prayer’ and is a term she has deployed on various occasions—is coupled with the specific day on which the painting was begun in 1997, as well as its date of completion some five years later. This diaristic precision fixes the painting in the timespan of its making, serving as a counterpoint to the ghostly, unfathomable being within.
Recently the subject of a major retrospective at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, following her exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, Cahn is among Switzerland’s most important living artists. Influenced by feminist movements, performance art, and artists such as Edvard Munch and Philip Guston, her extensive practice—which includes painting, photography, drawing, and writing—addresses questions of tragedy, crisis and the body. Through her myriad media, Cahn contends with volatility and flux. Yet her subjects are far from passive entities who allow the world to happen to them, and over the many years of her prolific career, Cahn has upended the male gaze, crafting defiant figures who choose to engage. Awash in ambiguity, they proudly take up space, fiercely confronting all who they encounter.
Recently the subject of a major retrospective at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, following her exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, Cahn is among Switzerland’s most important living artists. Influenced by feminist movements, performance art, and artists such as Edvard Munch and Philip Guston, her extensive practice—which includes painting, photography, drawing, and writing—addresses questions of tragedy, crisis and the body. Through her myriad media, Cahn contends with volatility and flux. Yet her subjects are far from passive entities who allow the world to happen to them, and over the many years of her prolific career, Cahn has upended the male gaze, crafting defiant figures who choose to engage. Awash in ambiguity, they proudly take up space, fiercely confronting all who they encounter.