Ophelia (variacions sobre una imatge)
Eugènia Balcells
1979
Ophelia (variacions sobre una imatge)
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Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William ...
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Ophelia (variacions sobre una imatge)
Eugènia Balcells
1979
Barcelona: Self-published
Unpaginated [74 pages]
22 × 32 cm
Edition of 125

Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, and Arthur Hughes), while critics have recast her as a prototype of hysteria. Alongside other feminist reworkings by women artists of her generation—such as Ana Mendieta’s Creek (1974) and Clara Gibson Maxwell’s Ophelie Song (1989)—Eugènia Balcells’s revisitation of this Shakespearean figure displaces reductive symbolism and invites a more attentive re-evaluation grounded in a critical interrogation of art history itself.


 


Her Ophelia project consists of multiple variations derived from a postcard reproduction of Millais’ Ophelia (Tate Britain), processed through a Xerox 9200. In total, 1,000 variations were produced. From this corpus, an installation and a publication of 125 copies were realised, each presenting a selection of 37 xerox prints. Within this field of near-infinite repetition, the work opens a set of unresolved questions: “Which one is Ophelia? Are all of them Ophelia? Or perhaps none of them is Ophelia?”

Barcelona: Self-published
Unpaginated [74 pages]
22 × 32 cm
Edition of 125

Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, and Arthur Hughes), while critics have recast her as a prototype of hysteria. Alongside other feminist reworkings by women artists of her generation—such as Ana Mendieta’s Creek (1974) and Clara Gibson Maxwell’s Ophelie Song (1989)—Eugènia Balcells’s revisitation of this Shakespearean figure displaces reductive symbolism and invites a more attentive re-evaluation grounded in a critical interrogation of art history itself.

 

Her Ophelia project consists of multiple variations derived from a postcard reproduction of Millais’ Ophelia (Tate Britain), processed through a Xerox 9200. In total, 1,000 variations were produced. From this corpus, an installation and a publication of 125 copies were realised, each presenting a selection of 37 xerox prints. Within this field of near-infinite repetition, the work opens a set of unresolved questions: “Which one is Ophelia? Are all of them Ophelia? Or perhaps none of them is Ophelia?”

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Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, and Arthur Hughes), while critics have recast her as a prototype of hysteria. Alongside other feminist reworkings by women artists of her generation—such as Ana Mendieta’s Creek (1974) and Clara Gibson Maxwell’s Ophelie Song (1989)—Eugènia Balcells’s revisitation of this Shakespearean figure displaces reductive symbolism and invites a more attentive re-evaluation grounded in a critical interrogation of art history itself.

 

Her Ophelia project consists of multiple variations derived from a postcard reproduction of Millais’ Ophelia (Tate Britain), processed through a Xerox 9200. In total, 1,000 variations were produced. From this corpus, an installation and a publication of 125 copies were realised, each presenting a selection of 37 xerox prints. Within this field of near-infinite repetition, the work opens a set of unresolved questions: “Which one is Ophelia? Are all of them Ophelia? Or perhaps none of them is Ophelia?”

Barcelona: Self-published
Unpaginated [74 pages]
22 × 32 cm
Edition of 125

Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, and Arthur Hughes), while critics have recast her as a prototype of hysteria. Alongside other feminist reworkings by women artists of her generation—such as Ana Mendieta’s Creek (1974) and Clara Gibson Maxwell’s Ophelie Song (1989)—Eugènia Balcells’s revisitation of this Shakespearean figure displaces reductive symbolism and invites a more attentive re-evaluation grounded in a critical interrogation of art history itself.

 

Her Ophelia project consists of multiple variations derived from a postcard reproduction of Millais’ Ophelia (Tate Britain), processed through a Xerox 9200. In total, 1,000 variations were produced. From this corpus, an installation and a publication of 125 copies were realised, each presenting a selection of 37 xerox prints. Within this field of near-infinite repetition, the work opens a set of unresolved questions: “Which one is Ophelia? Are all of them Ophelia? Or perhaps none of them is Ophelia?”

MORE BOOKS

Often misrepresented, the figure of Ophelia has been shaped for centuries by a predominantly male critical tradition: artists have portrayed her in romantic abandon (including John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Thomas Francis Dicksee, John William Waterhouse, and Arthur Hughes), while critics have recast her as a prototype of hysteria. Alongside other feminist reworkings by women artists of her generation—such as Ana Mendieta’s Creek (1974) and Clara Gibson Maxwell’s Ophelie Song (1989)—Eugènia Balcells’s revisitation of this Shakespearean figure displaces reductive symbolism and invites a more attentive re-evaluation grounded in a critical interrogation of art history itself.

 

Her Ophelia project consists of multiple variations derived from a postcard reproduction of Millais’ Ophelia (Tate Britain), processed through a Xerox 9200. In total, 1,000 variations were produced. From this corpus, an installation and a publication of 125 copies were realised, each presenting a selection of 37 xerox prints. Within this field of near-infinite repetition, the work opens a set of unresolved questions: “Which one is Ophelia? Are all of them Ophelia? Or perhaps none of them is Ophelia?”

MORE BOOKS