Great Expectations

About Great Expectations

This intimate nude of a middle-aged woman by Joe Fafard aches with pathos. It’s the face that draws you in—cropped red hair, a splash of freckles on the cheeks, full lips, eyes cast downward. The pose—standing, arms folded below her chest as if resolved. Did she have great expectations? This bronze piece is patinated—layers and layers of colour—light skin, and red hair adds to the realism and texture. Inscribed with a date and Fafard’s signature, edition number two of five.

“…One advantage of doing a portrait in sculpture rather than in painting is that painting only has 1 point of view. While a sculpture has a myriad of points of view that go all the way around the sculpture so you can increase the impact in a sculpture that you wouldn’t be able to do in a painting. I’m not saying that sculpture is a superior art form to painting…I’m insisting on it.” Joe Fafard

Fafard was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981 and received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Regina, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The National Gallery of Canada with the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina mounted a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work that toured to six venues between 2007 and 2009. Fafard's artworks are held in major museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada.