Sculpture of a naked light-skinned woman with red nail polish and dark hair sitting in a bathtub of soapy water. She holds her breasts with both hands, her mouth open in a look of surprise. The rest of her face and head is not present in the work. A bright blue snorkel protrudes from the water between her legs.

Woman in Tub

1988

Jeff Koons American, born 1955

United States

Woman in Tub, based on a postcard, depicts a female nude acting out a crude sexual joke in the bathtub. Jeff Koons explained: “There’s a snorkel and somebody is doing something to her under the water because she’s grabbing her breasts for protection. But the viewer also wants to victimize her.” The cartoonlike rendering of the form belies the exquisite hard-paste porcelain finish, typical of 18th-century Rococo figurines. Part of his Banality series, which is characterized by oddly eroticized, comic, and kitsch images, this work demonstrates Duchampian and Pop Art strategies of appropriation and, combining imagery from multiple sources, makes the primary subject taste itself.

Porcelain

Contemporary Art

SAIC Alumni and Faculty