Two Women on Red Blanket, One Reading

1987

Two Women on Red Blanket, One Reading, 1987. Joy Laville (American, 1923–2018), Beth Lovendusky. Color lithograph on Rives BFK paper; sheet: 52.7 x 63.5 cm (20 3/4 x 25 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Kay Kujala Deaux 2020.238 The English-born artist Joy Laville relocated to Mexico in 1956 to study art and spent the remainder of her career working there. Beginning in the 1970s, she began to develop her signature style, seen in this work, which focused on introspective images of female figures often rendered abstractly and in a restrained pastel palette. Here, Laville collaborated with a master printer from the well-known Tamarind Lithography Workshop to produce an enigmatic but provocative depiction of women. Joy Laville originally moved to Mexico because the inexpensive cost of living allowed her to pursue an artistic career.