"Woman Flying," Katherine Bradford

Katherine Bradford (United States, born 1942), Woman Flying, 1999, oil on canvas dropcloth, 84 x 72 inches. Museum purchase with support from the Friends of the Collection, 2012.14. Image courtesy Pillar Digital Imaging. © Katherine Bradford

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Woman Flying is recognized as the artist’s first superhero painting and considered a self-portrait. It was first exhibited in the PMA’s 2001 Biennial Exhibition in these same galleries. Bradford wrote the following entry for the catalogue: 

My painting shows a woman in the act of flying. Although she is wearing a red cape to top off her achievement, I have presented her as barely able to fly, more in a state of longing than of accomplishment. Because she is seen as trying to do something for which she is unequipped, we catch her in a state of vulnerability and exposure. On the other hand, she is shown in a hero’s mode, and can perhaps be confused at first with a superhero. In this way I hope to balance her striving with an upbeat pose, however improbable or unlikely.