VIDEO:Chantal Joffe-All I’m Seeing Is the Beauty

American-born British painter Chantal Joffe paints people—herself, her daughter, and her friends—capturing not just the likeness but also the vulnerability and feelings of the human in front of her or in the mirror. “None of us can see ourselves or see how we’re seen, and we’re always curious. We’re always wondering, how is the world seeing us?”

We met the painter in her London studio to talk about her fascination with people and painting as an act of seeing.

“I guess painting is always leaving self-consciousness behind. Maybe what I’m chasing is to lose that division between ideas about how somebody looks or should look or feel they look,” she ponders, reflecting on the special power dynamic between seeing and being seen.

Chantal Joffe describes how she finds herself mesmerized by the beauty and particularity of her subjects as she paints them, only to realize that the sitter often doesn’t see what she sees in them. “It’s a hard thing because… I paint people and they’re intoxicatingly beautiful to me. And the painting, I’m like, wow, yeah, I really got them! Wow! They’re so beautiful! And then I turn the painting to the sitter and their expression is not like: ’Wow, you’ve made me so beautiful’. It’s like: ’What the hell?’” she explains, pointing at the disconnect between her perception of beauty and our own self-image.

Chantal Joffe (b. 1969, St. Albans, Vermont, USA) is a painter known for her expressive and loosely gestural portraits. With bold brushstrokes and emotional depth, Chantal Joffe has spent a lifetime painting women, children, and the people in her life, often drawing inspiration from family photos, fashion magazines, and the work of other artists. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art and completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2006, she was awarded the Royal Academy Wollaston Prize for the most distinguished work in the Summer Exhibition. Chantal Joffe’s works are included in several museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA; Detroit Institute of Arts, USA; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

 

Chantal Joffe was interviewed by Nanna Rebekka in her London studio in April 2023. Camera: Kyle Stevenson, Edited and produced by: Nanna Rebekka. © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024 Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling