Lisa Kramer Distortion

Many societies throughout history have had their own distinctive concepts and standards of what is and is not deemed attractive, especially when it comes to the physical appearance of one’s self. Judging your own appearance is an inescapable human trait and the way different societies have portrayed the ‘ideal’ individual’s appearance has in fact influenced and altered our appearance. Lisa Kramer, Auguste Toulmouche and Pablo Picasso all used the mirror to symbolize a reflection to which figures can practice harsh self judgment or vanity. The overall message communicated by these three artists have been greatly impacted by the historical context of their time. It effected the way the artists represented the figure’s distortion of self and demonstrated subjects harsh self-judgement or vanity.
In Lisa Kramer’s contemporary work Woman in the Mirror (2011), she used mixed medium and oil paints to portray a women figure staring into three different mirrors, and in each, a different distortion of her self appearance. Kramer has borrowed styles from the past such as surrealism and impressionism to help portray this representation of distorted self. She states “We live in a Barbie doll world; anorexia, bulimia, looking old, looking normal and not plastic are problems many women face today.” (Fine Art America, Lisa Kramer, 2011). Harsh self judgement is a common problem in todays society, with the endless articles and videos instructing us to look better and compare our selves to other “beautiful” or “sexy” figures. It is clear that external influences, such as cultural context, have distorted Kramer’s self image as the woman looks in the mirror to not see herself accurately, and doesn’t see her true