Self Image (from the series Face Lift)
Artist
Anne Noggle
(American, 1922 - 2005)
Date1975
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 7 1/2 × 11 1/4 in. (19.1 × 28.6 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Mat: 14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Mat: 14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineBequest of the Rick Dillingham Estate, 1994
Object number1994.67.124
DescriptionClose-up head and shoulder portrait of a woman facing the viewer. She holds a flower up to her mouth with her proper right hand. Her eyes are swollen and bruised with stiches around each eye. A white concrete block wall and shrubs are in background. A wood airplane is mounted on a pole at in the left background.eMuseum Notes
In the early 1970's, Noggle had extensive surgeries on her lungs which were damaged by her work as a crop duster and ended her career as a pilot. She felt that these operations aged her and decided undergo a face lift in 1975. She saw it in a very positive light, as a way to revive her appearance, and documented herself in photographs before the surgery and after for her series Face Lift. Apparently her interest in the beauty of aging faces did not extend to her own visage.
The photograph was taken in artist's yard in Albuquerque after her face lift surgery. Note the rose as a symbol of beauty and the airplane yard ornament at left as a symbol of her life as a pilot.
On View
Not on view
