This lithograph was created in Paris as ‘poster avant la lettre’ for the book ‘Tuymans, relevé de la mort’ by Hélène Cixous. The theme of lithograph is an important portrait from the series 'Der diagnostische Blick' from 1992.

 

The series of ten paintings was created on the basis of diagnostic pictures from the medical handbook 'Der diagnostische Blick'. The paintings consist for one half out of closely framed close-up portraits of the patients; the other half are close-ups of body parts that are cropped and painted in such a way that they lead to a certain form of abstraction.

 

The portrait that served as a base for this edition is 'Der diagnostische Blick V' and portrays a woman with anemia. The face is very flat virtually turning it into a mask. The colour of the litho, in comparison with the painting, has been distorted towards red shades only. An intriguing portrait!

 

The size of this litho (119cm x 78) and the subject make this an impressive edition. Also the size of the image in comparison with the sheet is extraordinary: given an edge of 10cm, the image almost completely cover the sheet.