To karrikerede herreportrætter i profil til venstre 1781 - 1791

Marie Jeanne Clemens made this caricature drawing of two men in profile while working as a court painter in 18th-century Denmark. At the time, women artists navigated the strictures of a patriarchal art world which favored men. Notice how Clemens uses exaggeration and distortion to mock her subjects. The pointed noses, receding chins, and elaborate wigs satirize the vanity and artificiality of aristocratic men. The artist captures a moment of social critique through the lens of gender and class, in a society defined by rigid hierarchies. What do you make of the differing facial expressions? Are they in conversation with each other? It makes one wonder if Clemens, as a woman in a male-dominated society, saw caricature as a means to challenge prevailing norms and express her own social commentary.