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Woman in Tub

Sculpture of a naked light-skinned woman with red nail polish and dark hair sitting in a bathtub of soapy water. She holds her breasts with both hands, her mouth open in a look of surprise. The rest of her face and head is not present in the work. A bright blue snorkel protrudes from the water between her legs.
© 1988 Jeff Koons

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  • Sculpture of a naked light-skinned woman with red nail polish and dark hair sitting in a bathtub of soapy water. She holds her breasts with both hands, her mouth open in a look of surprise. The rest of her face and head is not present in the work. A bright blue snorkel protrudes from the water between her legs.

Date:

1988

Artist:

Jeff Koons
American, born 1955

About this artwork

Woman in Tub, based on a postcard, depicts a female nude acting out a crude sexual joke in the bathtub. Jeff Koons explained: “There’s a snorkel and somebody is doing something to her under the water because she’s grabbing her breasts for protection. But the viewer also wants to victimize her.” The cartoonlike rendering of the form belies the exquisite hard-paste porcelain finish, typical of 18th-century Rococo figurines. Part of his Banality series, which is characterized by oddly eroticized, comic, and kitsch images, this work demonstrates Duchampian and Pop Art strategies of appropriation and, combining imagery from multiple sources, makes the primary subject taste itself.

Status

On View, Gallery 292

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Jeff Koons

Title

Woman in Tub

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1988

Medium

Porcelain

Edition

Artist's proof, from an edition of 3

Dimensions

60.3 × 91.4 × 68.6 cm (23 3/4 × 36 × 27 in.)

Credit Line

Collection of Stefan T. Edlis and H. Gael Neeson, partial and promised gift to the Art Institute of Chicago

Reference Number

2005.472

Copyright

© 1988 Jeff Koons

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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