Parallel Manipulation

Christina Ramberg is known for enigmatic paintings of fragments of the female body—typically torsos, legs, and hands—tightly cropped and partially clothed, bound, or veiled. The formal clarity, stylized figuration, and references to Surrealism and popular culture in her works aligned her with the Chicago Imagists, who she exhibited with in the False Image exhibitions at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. The artist’s pointedly feminist critique of the social conditions that physically shape and constrict the female body was furthered by her interest in costume history and her collection of medical illustrations, paper dolls, and fashion advertisements. Her focus on patterning and clever use of juxtaposition are expressed in Parallel Manipulation, in which a head of braided hair mimics the decorative designs of a woman’s garment.