Lady Oscar

Artist Statement:

I chose to do a portrait of Lady Oscar for the exhibition - a cartoon character I was crazy about when I was young.

Lady Oscar was a woman in the army during the French Revolution, and she pretended to be a man in order to pursue her goal. From the outset, I wanted to focus on the portrait of a woman who had to pretend to be a man.

When I went to give a presentation on my career as an artist at an elementary school in my town last February, I explained to the children how I had become a creative person and gave them examples of the things that had sparked my desire to become an artist, talking in particular about the aesthetics of Lady Oscar's cartoons, which I used to draw all the time. And I'd say to them, “When I have time, I'm going to paint Lady Oscar in my current style”.

Something clicked in my mind when I realised that Lady Oscar was precisely a woman who had disguised herself as a man so that she could join the army. It became clear that this was the perfect opportunity to portray her. So here is my version of this character.

Dimensions: 280mm (w) x 350mm (h)

Year: 2025

Medium: Acrylic on panel

Framing Specification: Ornate gold frame

Framed Dimensions: 380mm (w) x 460mm (h)