Oviloo Tunnillie's Seated Woman, Speaking and Gesturing belongs to a larger body of work in which the artist explored the human figure, and particularly the female form, with considerable sensitivity to its physical and expressive possibilities. Here, the woman possesses a wonderfully individual presence, achieved through the contrast between the broad simplicity of her body and the specificity of a few small but telling gestures.

Seated with her left hand resting loosely upon her lap, she assumes an easy, unstudied pose. Her right arm, however, is raised, her small fist curled beside her face in a wonderfully familiar conversational gesture, as though this woman were emphasizing a point with particular conviction.

Read alongside the expressive gesture of her raised hand, Tunnillie's attentiveness to the subtleties of the woman's facial expression becomes especially compelling. Her slightly parted lips, as though on the verge of speech, and her eyes turned tenement to an unseen object of her attention all make for a compelling ‘speaking likeness [1]', as though the woman has been caught mid-sentence, her next words still suspended upon her lips.

1. This term, I believe, dates back to antiquity but refers to a work, where it was used to evoke the extraordinary lifelikeness of a work of art, particularly a portrait or sculpture whose subject appeared so convincingly animated that it seemed capable of speech.

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