Additional texteDescription: The Irish girl in this painting is Joanna Heffernan. She modelled for the painter James Abbott MacNeill Whistler, with whom she lived. Courbet met her in Normandy in 1865 and they became very close friends. In the painting she pulls her hand through her loose, red hair, while gazing at her reflection in the mirror – a subject charged with symbolism associating to themes such as provocative sensuality, vanity or the transience of beauty. Courbet made three other versions of this painting. This is the original version, which belonged to his estate when he died in 1877.
Description: This image is of Joanna Heffernan, who was Courbet’s model and mistress. Female models had low status, being viewed as little more than a commodity and the property of the male artists. When “Jo” examined herself in the mirror, it was a vital act, as she was entirely dependent on her appearance to make a living. In the consumer culture of today, women are defined by their appearance, as objects, not allowed to age and controlled by their weight.
Catalogue text: This painting is of Joanna Heffernan, who was the model and mistress of both Whistler and Courbet. Female models in the 19th century had low status, being viewed as little more than a commodity and the property of the male artists. When Jo examined herself in the mirror, therefore, it was a vital act, as she was entirely
dependent on her appearance to make a living. In the consumer culture of our own day, women are defined by their appearance, as objects, not allowed to age and controlled by their weight. A new study of young people’s media behaviour in Sweden shows that girls as young as ten market themselves using manipulated selfies with ‘duck poses, while boys mostly play computer games and have dynamic but unmoved ‘stone face’ poses as their physical ideal.
