Leonor Fini: the Sewing Machine

The Sewing Machine, by Leonor Fini (Italy, b. Argentina) 1978

The Sewing Machine
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A woman sits at an old-fashioned sewing machine with a massive gauzy swathe of orange fabric. Sewing is typically viewed as a menial domestic task of necessity, almost always women’s work, and historically, a form of near-slave labour, whether to clothe the family or as immigrant employment in the harsh conditions of factories or “sweat shops.” Leonor Fini turns our presuppositions upside down and gives us a seamstress who is both powerful and sensual. The woman takes the wheel with certainty, her hands directing both the cloth and the machine, her focus determined. The painting contrasts a rich, dark mahogany palette with a figure whose body and face are pale alabaster. The painting is almost chiaroscuro. And the sewing woman is almost a ghost. But an earthly, earthy human she is nonetheless, with skirt hiked up, for practicality of labour, perhaps, but revealing shapely legs and drawing our attention to the bullseye centre of the picture, also the centre of life itself. Fini was a master of mystery, illuminating her work with enigmatic women who exude sexual confidence and who explore and determine their own paths regardless of social or cultural obstacles and stereotypes. They are also mythic and archetypal figures. Even the most mundane and ordinary scenario suggests longstanding links to fairy tales, legends, folklore and mythology. Fini’s seamstress is not just a wife, mother, or servant. She is a creator and designer and an artist. Her imagination and her hands determine her own fate. 

Lorette C. Luzajic