Self-Portrait (On Being Female)

Fiercely committed to worker’s rights, women’s equality, and other liberal causes, Pele deLappe pursued art in tandem with social activism. As a vivacious and precociously talented fifteen-year-old, she was befriended in 1931 by the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and often sketched with his wife, the painter Frida Kahlo. Inspired by their social engagement, deLappe became a political cartoonist for newspapers associated with the labor movement and in 1952 helped found the Graphic Arts Workshop, a cooperative for artist-activists in San Francisco.

In this self-portrait, which deLappe made at the age of seventy-five, she contrasts the youthful features of an idealized mask with her own time-worn face, which she represents with unsparing frankness. The detailed rendering of hairstyle and jewelry betrays the necessity of presenting an attractive public facade. In the background, the signed drawing of a lithe female nude recalls the artist’s younger self.

Defensora tenaz de los derechos laborales, la igualdad de la mujer y otras causas liberales, Pele deLappe cultivó el arte en conjunto con el activismo social. En 1931, siendo una quinceañera vivaz y de talento precoz, entabló amistad con el muralista mexicano Diego Rivera y a menudo se reunía a dibujar con su esposa, la pintora Frida Kahlo. Inspirada por el activismo social de estos artistas, deLappe se dedicó a la caricatura política para periódicos asociados con el movimiento laboral y en 1952 ayudó a fundar el Graphic Arts Workshop, una cooperativa para artistas activistas en San Francisco.

En este autorretrato realizado a la edad de 75 años, deLappe contrasta los rasgos juveniles de una máscara idealizada con su propio rostro avejentado, que presenta con rigurosa franqueza. La detallada ejecución del peinado y las joyas delata la necesidad de presentar una atractiva fachada pública. Al fondo, el dibujo firmado de un esbelto desnudo femenino recuerda a la artista en su juventud.