Despina 

Sofia Bonati made ‘Despina’, using pencil and watercolor, in the 20th Century. The figure's direct gaze confronts us, her red dress a stark contrast to the monochrome background. What's striking is the artificiality of the image. The neat lines of the dress, the solid black hair and the geometric blush feel staged. Bonati could be commenting on the hyper-real images of women that proliferate in contemporary culture. Are these images, like the strawberry she is about to consume, just another kind of consumer product? Does this image critique the institutions that support these norms? Is it self-consciously progressive? To understand this, we might look at fashion photography of the late 20th century, and how the female form is represented in social media. A deeper understanding of Bonati’s social context would give us more insight into the image’s cultural meaning.