A Portrait of Mrs. Doe
November, 2024

50 pp

155 × 220 mm

Nomen nescio is the Latin expression used in Ancient Rome to designate an indeterminate or unidentified person. The initials, ‘N. N.’ were transformed over time, and renamed with the assumed name Numerio Negidio. John, Jane and Baby Doe are names from this same genealogy of anonymity. A strange family that, both in terms of semantics and art, has forgotten the identity of women. A Portrait of Mrs. Doe brings together 15 unpublished works with a common factor: female anonymity. Ten portraits of women, dating from the end of the 19th century to the mid-20th century, are presented together with five Indian ink drawings by Fernando Martín Godoy. The aim of the exhibition is to offer a reading of the history of art in which silence, gaps in information and the dark areas of memory take center stage.

Catalogue text: Isabel Durán Puertas