Artwork
Lupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez is an ink print by Nicola Thomas. It dates from 2014 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
This print shows Lupe Vélez, a 1930s film actress. Nicola Thomas made it in 2014. Thomas is a printmaker who focuses on how we look at images.
Thomas studied at the Royal College of Art. She created this screenprint while winning a prize from Jealous Print Studio. The prize gives recent graduates a paid residency to make new prints.
Look up the artist: Thomas, Nicola.
Overview
Thomas’s work was selected from the Royal College of Art and later donated to the V&A’s print collection as part of the annual graduate portfolio.
In 2014, Nicola Thomas created a screenprint of Lupe Vélez as part of the Jealous Print Studio Graduate Prize, awarded to recent MA Fine Art graduates from London’s major art colleges. The prize includes a funded residency during which recipients produce a limited-edition print. Thomas’s work was selected from the Royal College of Art and later donated to the V&A’s print collection as part of the annual graduate portfolio.
Subject & Meaning
The print depicts Lupe Vélez, a Mexican-American film star of the 1930s, whose public persona was shaped by exoticized Hollywood portrayals. Thomas’s choice engages with the historical construction of female identity in cinema, particularly how the gaze of the camera and audience framed actresses like Vélez as objects of spectacle rather than subjects of agency.
Technique & Style
Executed in monochrome screenprinting, the image uses layered blacks to render Vélez’s features with subtle tonal variation. A tactile element of flocking is applied to specific areas, encouraging physical interaction and disrupting the passive viewing typical of portraiture. This material choice underscores the tension between visual consumption and embodied experience.
History & Provenance
The print was produced during Thomas’s residency at Jealous Print Studio following her 2013 graduation from the Royal College of Art. As part of the prize, the edition was added to the V&A’s permanent collection, aligning with the studio’s commitment to preserving contemporary printmaking by emerging artists. It remains one of eight annual graduate works donated to the museum.
Context
Thomas’s practice examines the mechanics of looking, particularly in relation to gender and media representation. Her work responds to a broader shift in contemporary art toward interrogating historical imagery through material and conceptual intervention. The use of flocking in this piece reflects an interest in how texture can complicate the relationship between viewer and subject.
Legacy
The print contributes to an ongoing dialogue about the representation of women in early cinema and the role of printmaking in recontextualizing archival imagery. By inviting touch, Thomas challenges the distance traditionally maintained between viewer and portrait, offering a physical counterpoint to the visual objectification Vélez endured in her lifetime.
Artist & collection
Artist
Nicola Thomas makes screenprints of pop-culture faces, turning them into bold, flat-color portraits.
