Simone Leigh

Las Meninas II

Las Meninas II addresses pressing questions of racial and gender equity by delving into the complex history of Western imperialism, slavery, and the portrayal of female subjecthood. The life-size sculpture immediately recalls Las Meninas, a 1656 painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. The iconic work portrays the King of Spain, his daughter, her courtesans, and Velázquez himself in a complex weave of sightlines, mirrors, and gazes. But while the Spanish princess peered at the painter—and the viewer—from a demure three-quarter turn of the head, Leigh’s figure stands defiant and imposing, squarely confronting the spectator with a faceless void composed of small and light-colored ceramic rosettes. Similarly, the ballgown of the Infanta Margarita (whose father sanctioned slavery in the Spanish Empire) is replaced by a nude torso made of white-glazed terracotta and dressed in an oversized raffia skirt that evokes Afro-Caribbean religious rites.