{"data":{"id":"1070","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1070,"topgoose_id":840,"tms_id":1070,"display_name":"Christina Ramberg","sort_name":"Ramberg Christina","display_date":"1946–1995","begin_date":"1946","end_date":"1995","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAssociated with the Chicago Imagists\nas well as the Hairy Who group of artists,\nChristina Ramberg is best known for\nher discomfiting paintings of female torsos\ncompleted in the 1970s. Rendered in\nprofile and tightly cropped by the edges\nof the canvas to create a sense of\nvoyeuristic intimacy, the disembodied\nfigures are bound, corseted, and bandaged\nin outfits that variously recall 1950s\nlingerie, sadomasochistic bondage, or the\nbionic prosthetics of the future. Recounting\nthe childhood experience of watching\nher mother dress for parties, Ramberg\nwould wear a foundation garment referred\nto as a “merry widow,” and recalled\nthat “the paintings have a lot to do with this,\nwith watching and realizing that these\nundergarments totally transform a woman’s\nbody. . . . I thought it was fascinating . . .\nin some ways, I thought it was awful.”\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nIn \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/514\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eIstrian River Lady\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, a figure wears a\nlong-sleeved bustier covered in what\nappear to be scales and trimmed\nwith hair. The bustier squeezes the chest\nto an unnatural point. Soft curves\nof flesh swell over the hard edges of\nthe outfit, and three loose stitches\nare visible where a seam is bursting at\nthe figure’s shoulder. Ramberg’s\npaintings betray her conflicted reaction\nto her mother’s undergarments: it is\nunclear whether the garments are sources\nof power or restraints that limit it.\nRejecting readings of her work as either\nfeminist or erotically festishistic, Ramberg\nshifted her subject in the late 1970s\nfrom the recognizable female form to an\nambiguous, androgynous cyborg.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500090068","wikidata_id":"Q16750233","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:54:54.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:02:41.432-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1070/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1070/exhibitions"}}}}