No. 12 by Magda Cordell, 1960

Embryo. Skeleton within. Skin. As Critic Lawrence Alloway put it, “skinned.”

at the Tate Britain, London

The sense of embryo is created by the oval-shaped opening within the thick red. The yellows inside are fluid-like, and mix with the red to be more skin-like. One long line pitted like a bulb runs up to its top, a circular skull-like head, with deeper, more skin-shaped reds in its shadow. The shadow continues through open spaces where the arms would be and to the pelvis, to legs that would be sitting, giving the impression of bones outside of skin. Other legs with lighter mixes connect to the bulb, like they’re perching on a thermometer. 

Bubbles disrupt the red that runs around with brush strokes in different directions like living rivers. At some places, large slices of red pop out, giving dimension. The whole piece is alive and in flux. It’s like an ancient unborn living thing from science fiction.