Busto di Donna in Rosa 1966

Domenico Gnoli created Busto di Donna in Rosa, using paint on canvas. The artist takes a familiar motif – a woman’s body, clothed – and renders it strange. The figure is cropped, focusing on the bust and waist, and obscuring any skin. All that remains is the textile, and the pattern printed on it. Gnoli highlights the material qualities of the fabric – its texture, weight, and drape, which implies the body beneath. What could be more everyday? Yet, the artist’s meticulous rendering elevates the pattern to the level of high art. Consider the labor embedded in the dress itself – the industrial production of the textile, the skilled work of cutting and sewing. These are not the concerns of traditional art history. But by attending to them, and the ways Gnoli subtly draws our attention to the dress, we can appreciate how meaning emerges from the most humble of materials.