Jenny Saville becomes most expensive living female artist

Jenny Saville, Propped, 1992. Oil on canvas. Source: Sotheby’s/Deskgram

On October 5, 2018, Jenny Saville’s self-portrait Propped (1992) was sold for £9.5 million ($12.4 million) at Sotheby’s London. It is a record high price for a piece by a living female artist and the highest price for Saville’s work, Artguide writes.

Jenny Saville is known for her portraits of nude voluminous women. She is associated with the Young British Artists (YBA), a group that became famous after the show Sensation organised by gallerist Charles Saatchi at the Royal Academy in 1997.

Propped depicts a naked artist looking in the mirror with a long quote from French-Belgian feminist Luce Irigaray’s essays inscribed above the image. The inverted text is meant for the woman in the painting rather than for the viewer standing behind the double-sided mirror. The painting was the top lot at the sale The History of Now: The Collection of David Teiger. The proceeds will go to the Teiger Foundation for the support of contemporary art.