Joan Semmel, the 93-year-old painter, has been a feminist pioneer since the 1970s, when she shocked the art world with paintings modelled on her own nude body. Now in her 10th decade, she is celebrated for her unapologetic depictions of ageing and female sexuality.
Semmel works out of a high-ceilinged SoHo studio in New York, where light pours in over a decades-old snake plant. Her upcoming show, Continuities, features recent works that continue her long-standing practice of using her own nude body as a model. She insists these are not self-portraits, but constructs. ‘Obviously, I age,’ she says. ‘If I’m going to do something authentic, it’s going to show that.’
Semmel is also the subject of a retrospective at the Jewish Museum in New York. A standout piece is the triptych Mythologies and Me (1976), which parodies a Playboy centre-fold and a De Kooning painting. It was a response to a gallerist who doubted that a nude could be political. ‘I painted my answer,’ she says.
Semmel’s career began in abstract expressionism while living in Spain in the 1960s. After returning to New York in 1970, she joined feminist groups and shifted to figuration, creating large-scale paintings of heterosexual couples having sex. She aimed to create a female gaze in a male-dominated field.
Reflecting on the current political climate, Semmel says: ‘I’m happy that there are younger women now who seem to understand that they have to fight for what they want. It’s really important for women to understand that their lives are at stake. Seriously, we’re almost at The Handmaid’s Tale.’
