Jenny Saville and Chief Curator Andrea Karnes

Join artist Jenny Saville in conversation with the Modern’s chief curator, Andrea Karnes, for a discussion in conjunction with the exhibition Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting. Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London, this landmark exhibition traces the artist’s career from the early 1990s to today. The Modern is privileged to be the only U.S. institution showcasing The Anatomy of Painting. Saville and Karnes will discuss the course of the artist’s long and fruitful career that has centered on challenging conventions of portraying the figure — a practice that began when the artist was in her early twenties. 

Rising to prominence in the 1990s, Saville has played a leading role in figurative painting since that time. Her works reveal a deep awareness of art history and the ways in which the body has been represented over time and across cultures. While inspired by great artists like Michelangelo and Rembrandt, and influenced by modern masters like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Saville has also reinvented figuration in her own right.  

Jenny Saville was born in 1970 in Cambridge, England. She received her B.A. Honors Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, before being represented by Gagosian in 1997. 

Saville’s works are featured in public collections, including the Tate, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Broad, Los Angeles; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and The Long Museum, Shanghai. In 2007, Saville was elected a Royal Academician, Royal Academy of Arts, London.