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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Without Hands: The Art of Sarah Biffin

Sarah Biffin, Self-Portrait, 1842.

Nov 1 – Dec 21, 2022
18-19 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5LU

The remarkable story of the English painter Sarah Biffin (1784–1850) has been overlooked and understudied. New primary scholarship, however, has corrected and expanded that story. Biffin was born with no arms and only vestigial legs. Nevertheless she learned to use her mouth to paint miniatures commissioned by royalty, and often signed her watercolors and portraits “Without Hands.” She was sometimes referred to as the “Eighth Wonder.” This exhibition presents Biffin’s landscapes, still lifes, and almost every self-portrait she painted, along with her writing and other Victorian ephemera. —Clara Molot

Photo courtesy of Philip Mould & Co.