“In the most recent works of Kathleen Gilje, the eye is the point of entry into the soul and spirit of her subjects. Drawing on the portrait work of 19th century painter, John Singer Sargent, Gilje revisits and reinvents a series of forty-eight works by an artist known for his elegant, stately portrayal of women of wealth and station in England and France at the height of the industrial era. But, unlike Sargent’s women, who posed, conspicuously displaying the symbols of their wealth and social prominence in the form of formal dress, elaborate jewels and luxurious settings, Gilje’s women are naked from the waist up. The artist bestows upon them the proud bearing of their Victorian counterparts. In a faithful and skilled rendering of the original angle and position of the head, the artist matches her subject with the body of a contemporary model, completing a revision, or ‘restoration,’ of the individual portrait. Careful research of Sargent’s women reveals that each was likely the subject of his portraiture because of her husband’s economic success. But, each woman, masked behind her husband’s name and the accoutrement of social standing, had a story of her own to tell. Strong and intelligent, determined and committed to social causes, some endured the stigma of a Jewish heritage or sexual preference that would no doubt meet with scorn, yet each presents as strong and resolute. With the trappings of social status removed, the human qualities—of beauty, strength, conviction and self-assurance—are revealed.” Richard Friswell, Artes Magazine, July 9, 2010.
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