Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a print by Carole Shepheard. It dates from 2004 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Carole Shepheard’s 2004 print, part of the SOFA Print Project’s portfolio of 24 works, presents a stylized female profile aligned with historical phrenological diagrams. The image is rendered in muted tones, with the head centered against a blurred field of green foliage. The composition invites scrutiny of how bodily forms have been mapped and interpreted through scientific and cultural lenses.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait depicts a woman’s face rendered with calm stillness, its features softened yet defined by a grid of fine lines across the skull.
The portrait depicts a woman’s face rendered with calm stillness, its features softened yet defined by a grid of fine lines across the skull. These lines reference phrenology’s pseudoscientific practice of correlating skull contours with mental traits. By isolating this imagery, Shepheard critiques the historical attempt to quantify identity through physical measurement, highlighting its detachment from lived experience.
Technique & Style
Shepheard employs a restrained tonal palette and precise linework to evoke the precision of 19th-century scientific illustrations. The face is rendered with smooth, pale surfaces, contrasting with the softly blurred, dark green foliage behind. The grid, subtly etched into the skin, functions as both anatomical notation and visual metaphor, grounding the image in a legacy of observational rigor.
History & Provenance
This print was produced in 2004 as part of the SOFA Print Project, a collaborative initiative involving 24 New Zealand artists responding to themes of place and perception. The portfolio was developed for exhibition and distribution through the Society of Fine Arts, reflecting a broader interest in re-examining historical frameworks through contemporary printmaking practices.
Context
Phrenology, once widely accepted in the 19th century, linked skull shape to personality and intelligence, often reinforcing racial and gender biases. Shepheard’s work engages with this legacy not as historical artifact but as enduring cultural residue. By placing the phrenological head within natural foliage, she contrasts imposed systems of classification with organic, unmeasurable forms of being.
Legacy
Shepheard’s print contributes to a sustained artistic dialogue around the representation of the body and the authority of scientific imagery. By revisiting phrenology’s visual language, her work invites reflection on how historical ideologies continue to shape perceptions of identity, difference, and knowledge in visual culture.
Artist & collection
Artist
Carole Marie Shepheard is a New Zealand artist. She specialises in printmaking and her work is held in national and international collections including the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
