COVE

Display Explanation

This exhibition would be displayed in a plain white room, specifically to make Seule (Alone) and Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung (Woman Masturbating)’s darker backgrounds pop, with all three pieces contained in floating frames. These are made from two panes of acrylic sheeting encasing the artwork to prevent a visible frame from surrounding its contents, giving the appearance that the pieces are floating and creating a three-dimensional effect. When coated with a non-glare finish, acrylic reduces reflections and glare and can enhance visibility in various lighting conditions, which would all be optimal for a gallery setting. A silver closure in each of the four corners would hold the artwork in place and attached to the wall. The corners of these frames would be rounded instead of their regular pointed ends to evoke the traditionally feminine portrayal of having soft curves instead of sharp edges. No sort of mattes would be included behind these artworks in order to better showcase the rawness of these pieces from being crafted on cardboard and sketch paper with their more rugged sides and edges in stark clarity in comparison to pieces such as canvases or photographs with smooth and straight borders.

From left to right, these artworks would be displayed in the order of Alone, to Walburga Neuzil in Black Stockings, and then to Woman Masturbating, so as to mimic a timeline of a woman making the decision to engage in achieving sexual pleasure with herself. While Alone and Woman Masturbating would be equally at eye level, in the middle, Walburga Neuzil in Black Stockings would be slightly lower than the other two, breaking the straight line to create a slight curve crafted by the three to evoke once again those often expected of the female body. Plaques, of course, would be affixed below each piece with relevant details about each on silver metal with black lettering.

The ambient lighting in the space would be slightly dimmed in a reference to how people often dim the lights to “set the mood” during a sexual encounter, though in only a minimul deviation from the rest of the gallery so as not to be a harsh change notable change when entering or exiting the space and still making everything viewable without further lighting needed. Soft music could be played to accompany this theme, though strictly instrumental so as not to divert too much attention from the art pieces themselves.

As in many galleries, seating would be available in the form of three small, armed black sofas, making a U-shape so that they can all have a view of the wall of art. On the edge of each, making four in total, would be a plain three-legged silver circular end table, giving the effect of being in someone’s living room. On the top of all these, like a pile of magazines or coffee table books, would be copies of a white booklet with black text discussing the exhibition, revealing the title of the installation on the cover as well as the note on the inside and available for the attendants to take home with them if they so wish to.

Installation Note

While there are some individuals who assert that sexual pleasure is merely a base human function, a core facet of reproduction that we simply cannot control, others argue it to be part of humanity’s reason for living, a source of joy amidst the daily trials and tribulations of surviving day to day. Could both not be true? This duality of simplicity and depth is expressed across these artworks of self-pleasure, particularly when depicted as a timeline.

According to sources, Seule (Alone) is a preparatory sketch for the final version of a lithograph, Lassitude, appearing in Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s series on women in brothels, Elles. Using la peinture à l’essence, a fluid and rapid medium, thinned oil on cardboard was used to almost instantaneously produce a picture: black stockings, white shift, a hand slowly creeping up the thigh of a woman of pleasure for once not pleasing another but instead, perhaps, preparing to give that gift to herself. The choice of materials being as such further enforces the idea of this collection of pieces, while perhaps not all sketches or studies, were crafted almost as if during an abrupt pause in the moments being portrayed, needing to illustrate the scene quickly before it disappeared from existence.

The content of Egon Schiele’s Walburga Neuzil in Black Stockings is similar: a woman clothed in white undergarments contrasting her black stockings, and, while not explicitly shown to be in the midst of pleasure, holding a hint of what could be the moments before such an act. Her knees are bent for her hands to dangle loosely in between them, fingers pointed in such a way to naturally guide the viewer’s eye downward toward the opening of her thighs and the folds of cloth below them, laying so in such a way that they almost mirror the folds of what is hidden beneath them. As Schiele’s lover, it wouldn’t be out of the question for this to be a moment captured by Schiele rather than a posed portrait of his muse.

The drawing Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung (Woman Masturbating) by Gustav Klimt is another piece crafted from simplistic materials and limited palettes, though now we do see our woman fully in the throes of pleasure, eyes closed as her focus is turned inward on herself. Klimt hasn’t even bothered to strip her of her outer garments, as this act is a performance, yes, but not a show; our Woman Masturbating is the only one meant to be gaining anything from her actions. If one were to garner any pleasure of one’s own from such a display, it would not be through a purposeful intent on her behalf, merely a voyeuristic one from the viewer.

These images invite viewers to slow down and enjoy the pleasure that the human body can give, even just to oneself, in opposition to the craftsmanship of each piece, suggesting the artist’s rush to create something tangible in order to capture a fleeting event in time before it was gone forever.

Works Cited

Klimt, Gustav. Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung (Woman Masturbating). 1913. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt#/media/File:Klimt_Mulher_sent...Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.

Schiele, Egon. Walburga Neuzil in Black Stockings. 1913. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Schiele#/media/File:Schiele_-_Frau_mi...Str%C3%BCmpfen_Valerie_Neuzil_-_1913.jpg. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de. Seule (Alone). 1896. https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/alone-elles-1896. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.