The artist whose nudes are worth millions: why the world went crazy for Jenny Saville

Jenny Saville is an artist whose paintings are both frightening and mesmerizing at the same time. Her giant nudes, painted with surgical candor, are worth millions and hang in the homes of the world's most influential collectors. How did the humble Glasgow graduate end up at the center of the art olympus? Why doesn't she chase fame and ignore market rules? And what do her paintings have in common with those of Rubens and Freud?

Song of Songs. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Fulcrum

Not every collector would dare to hang a nude image in their home, devoid of embellishments and stylization. However, as gallery owner Pilar Ordovas rightly points out, it is Jenny Saville's uncompromising nature that is the essence of her artistic language. “Jenny is not afraid of large-scale paintings and is ready to cause confusion in the viewer - because that is what makes art great,” she emphasizes.

Eve

Latent

Saville was born in Cambridge in 1970 and still lives and works in London. She is known as one of the main figures of the Young British Artists movement, although in spirit and style she is closer to the painting tradition. Her works, often exceeding the actual size of the body, remind of the paintings of Rubens with their bodily richness, and in plasticity - the work of Lucien Freud. In her paintings, the paint seems to be molded, forming a dense, sensual texture of skin and forms.

Closed Contact #3. Source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Closed Contact C, 2002. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

The main difficulty for collectors is the rarity of her work on the market. Although Saville likes to pursue several projects at once, she works slowly, sometimes returning to paintings years later. Her work receives constant attention, but her works rarely appear on both the primary and secondary markets. When they do, the demand for them is enormous. “If you are lucky enough to own one of her paintings, you are a real lucky man,” Emma Baker, curator of contemporary art at Sotheby's in London, is quoted as saying.

Vis and Ramin. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Song of Songs. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Jenny is an artist with an unusually successful start. Already in 1992, before graduating from Glasgow School of Art, her graduation work Propped was purchased by the Times photo editor. The canvas - a monumental self-portrait of a nude figure - adorned the cover of the Saturday edition of the newspaper, which attracted the attention of the famous collector Charles Saatchi. He bought up everything he could find of her work, and soon a yellow sticker with his phone number appeared on the wall in her studio. Within a couple of weeks Saville was living in London and painting exclusively for Saatchi, which led to her first major solo exhibition in 1994.

Propped, 1992. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Red Fates 2018. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Plan

In 1997, five of her works were included in the Royal Academy of Arts' legendary Sensation exhibition, a key event for the Young British Artists generation. The exhibition later moved to New York, where Saville was noticed by the influential art dealer Larry Gagosian, who became her representative for many years. A joint exhibition of twelve new portraits by the artist was to be held in Hong Kong as part of Art Basel, but was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic.

Closed Contact #13. Source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Intertwine. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Despite the growing interest in her work, only 29 of her works have been auctioned since 2008. Private sales of her paintings are equally rare. However, each such entry to the market is accompanied by an increase in prices. In October 2018, the painting 'Propped', previously acquired from Gagosian Gallery, sold at Sotheby's for a record £9.5 million, making Saville the most expensive living female artist.

Prop, 1993–1993

Closed Contact #10

Saville herself does not attach importance to this fact: “As long as I have the means to live and create, I am content. If I start thinking about numbers and market mechanisms, I get scared. It's better to stay in happy ignorance and focus on the work.”

According to Emma Baker, the ever-increasing interest in women artists in general is helping to strengthen Saville's position. “The demand for her work and the high competition at auction reflect a general trend: a focus on strong female images and a reassessment of women's contribution to art,” she comments.

Hyphen. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Reverse. Source: https://gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Saville is often hailed as the successor to major figurative masters such as Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon. However, their methods are different. “Freud always worked from life, while Saville worked mainly from photographs. In this respect, she is closer to Bacon.

The greatest value for collectors are the works of the 1990s - the heyday of the movement “Young British Artists”. Although Saville herself does not belong to them: unlike most of the participants, who graduated from the college “Goldsmiths” and focused on conceptualism, she followed the path of traditional oil painting. Saville's early work was dominated by depictions of women's bodies, and often her own. Over time, however, the artist's style of painting on more indeterminate, bodies that combine male and female features.

Study for Isis and Horus. 2011. Source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/jenny-saville/

Mother. Source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/jenny-saville/

In recent years she has been working more and more often with drawing, including pastels. But even in this technique the artist manages to convey powerful plasticity and movement. For example, her work “Isis and Horus” (2011), where the models are her own children.

Her art is a challenge, a confession and the courage to be herself, even if it is frightening. This is what makes Saville unique in contemporary painting.

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