Levia Moncrieffe-Kallai and the female figure
Within the art world it is well aware the role that women have played: a role as muse, as subject of study by many artists.
The word “art� is of female gender and we could write a book of art history considering the endless depictions of women from prehistory to today. Mother, saint, sinner, lover, wife, angel, devil: well, these are just a few of the amazing roles with which, over the millennia, have been seen, painted and sculpted the bodies and the faces of women in art. Art in its essence can’t be defined except by limiting the infinite potential of transformation, so, in the same way, the nature of the woman remains elusive in its integrity without restricting its multifaceted, seductive and vital capabilities. Much harder, at first sight, it is to be able to consider the woman not as a subject to portray but as a painter. The art scene has always been dominated by the male figure and it was more complicated, especially in the past centuries, to give to the woman the lead role. Not that female artists are never existed, it's just that, due to their different social status, there was little space for their artistic and cultural emancipation.
Levia, in her portraits, creates an inner search, which does not focus only on herself but will expand by touching the soul of all women.
In some of her portraits, the female figures are represented without smile or face, but at the same time appear sensual, not erotic, making expression of a society free and peaceful, without prejudices and standards of beauty, where their body is no longer analyzed by the male gaze but from themselves. The use of acrylic and oil paints go to tread the details of these women, underlining once again the concept of a daily and simple woman who.
Rebecca Rossetti, art curator.