The First Supper
Encyclopedia
The First Supper is a controversial work of art by Susan Dorothea White
, based on Leonardo da Vinci
's painting The Last Supper. White's painting is acrylic on a large wood panel (1.2 x 2.4 m) and, in a challenge to the patriarchal concept of thirteen men on one side of a table, shows 13 women from all regions of the world; the woman in the position of Leonardo's Christ figure is an Australian aboriginal wearing a T-shirt with the Australian Aboriginal Flag
. The painting toured Australia in the Blake Prize for Religious Art
exhibition in 1988, where it was ridiculed, before being exhibited in the artist's solo exhibition in Amsterdam, where it featured in the Dutch art journal Kunstbeeld: "The work shows clearly Susan White's thinking about human rights. It should be mentioned here that she sometimes places her many faceted talent at the service of the struggle for human rights".
Susan Dorothea White
Susan Dorothea White , also called Sue White and Susan White, is an Australian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. She is a narrative artist and her work concerns the natural world and human situation, increasingly incorporating satire and irony to convey her concern for human rights and equality...
, based on Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's painting The Last Supper. White's painting is acrylic on a large wood panel (1.2 x 2.4 m) and, in a challenge to the patriarchal concept of thirteen men on one side of a table, shows 13 women from all regions of the world; the woman in the position of Leonardo's Christ figure is an Australian aboriginal wearing a T-shirt with the Australian Aboriginal Flag
Australian Aboriginal Flag
The Australian Aboriginal Flag is a flag that represents Indigenous Australians. It is one of the official "Flags of Australia", and holds special legal and political status, but it is not the "Australian National Flag"...
. The painting toured Australia in the Blake Prize for Religious Art
Blake Prize for Religious Art
The Blake Prize for Religious Art is an annual art prize in Australia.The prize was established in 1949 as an incentive to raise the standard of religious art. Founded by Mr R. Morley, the Reverend Michael Scott SJ, Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, and lawyer Mrs M. Tenison, it...
exhibition in 1988, where it was ridiculed, before being exhibited in the artist's solo exhibition in Amsterdam, where it featured in the Dutch art journal Kunstbeeld: "The work shows clearly Susan White's thinking about human rights. It should be mentioned here that she sometimes places her many faceted talent at the service of the struggle for human rights".