Goddess of Beauty, Collage
The Goddess of Beauty, Mixed media Collage, Vivian Brooks, 1968
A collage of beauty magazines forming the face of a woman. A small cartoon woman with a dress and white horns preens and poses over the collage
Vivian Brooks was a mixed media artist who created artwork from 1960 to her passing in 1980. An artist of many mediums such as watercolor, clay, sculpture, and collage, her work was very diverse and tended to lean towards the abstract and surreal, embodying emotions and struggles she faced in her daily life.
As for the backstory behind this piece, we have Vivian’s own artist statement for reference, something which is frustratingly not available for most of the artwork on this website. Anyways, to summarize, for most of her life, Vivian had struggled with body issues, staved off by channeling her feelings into sculptures of exaggerated proportions. In the year of 1968, however, her self image was the worst it had ever been. She was reported to have been driven to the edge of despair, wishing to end her own life. She recounted spending the night tearing apart her studio, destroying her sculptures, and enacting extreme acts of violence towards herself. In her own words:
“I passed out with my wrists red and my stomach bloodied. I was pulled into a dark velvet sleep that briefly stung but promised me an out, no more to the pain of chasing the shape I had been pressured to obtain my entire life. And then in my dark dreams, a shape emerged of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her face was magazine clippings, of many discarded beauty magazines with self assured expressions, and many lips that whispered words of comfort to me. Comfort and secrets of the truth of beauty. Her eyes sparkled with words of how the form one finds comfort in is the most beautiful form in the world. She took my hand in hers of many fingers and shades and hues, and made me promises of the future if I tried harder with myself and changed my perspective
When I awoke, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my body. A burden I had never realized was there. I felt happy, and as soon as I returned from the hospital I set to work repairing my studio and making this devotion to the dream that saved my life.”
This artwork is also notable for its usage of Troy brand advertisement clippings. Helena Troy was a very popular beauty mascot of the time, and this piece makes use of her likeness to form a greater whole of a woman.