The Grande Dame and the Canvas Ceiling: Lys Hansen

Abstract

This essay focuses on the artist Lys Hansen (b. 1936) and discusses her work in relation to Scottish art and its infrastructures, self-portraiture, expressionism and the positioning of artists who are women. Although Hansen has been regarded as one of the key figurative painters working in Scotland in the mid-to-late-twentieth century, this essay suggests that her gender has defined the reception of her painting practice. The research proposes that re-evaluating her career will allow a fuller interpretation of her work and its relevance to historic and current painting practices in Scotland.