The Skull Collection

meret oppenheim's x-ray profile of her skull and shoulders and one hand raised, printed in black on white, reverse, using the original x-ray plate as a negative. oppenheim's two hoop earrings and two rings and necklace are all solid while the elements of her body are more permeable to x-rays, and appear in gradient softer form. via peter freeman inc
Meret Oppenheim, Röntgenaufnahme des Schädels M.O. / X-Ray of M. O.’s Skull (1964). Contact silver print from the original x-ray plate, 15 7/8 x 12 in., via Peter Freeman

In 1964 Meret Oppenheim made a self-portrait with an X-ray machine of her head—skull and jewelry—in profile. Then she made perhaps three contact prints using the X-ray plate, though only one is currently known. Peter Freeman presented it in 2022.

Oppenheim’s self-portrait is better known through the editions she made later, including a smaller, 10 x 8 in. edition of 20, released in 1981, which bears the caption, “Meret Oppenheim (1913-2000).” Whether she lived til 2000 [she did not, but died in 1985], Oppenheim was amused to imagine the photo encouraging future historians to state she did.

an installation shot of the renaissance society from 1992 with their trademark rafter beams across the ceiling, a dark floor filled with reflective light from a blownout daylight from a skylight bouncing off a wall at the far end of the gallery, illuminating isa genzken's resin-coated steel x-shape basket structure that looks like a large laundry dryer. on the left wall are two enlarged photo prints of genzken's x-ray self-portraits of her skull in profile while she drinks or does something undistinguishable, but similar. 1992.
Installation view of Isa Genzken, two photographic works titled X-Ray, 1990, each 40 x 31.5 in., Renaissance Society, Chicago, Summer 1992

Between 1989 and 1991 Isa Genzken made several X-ray self-portraits of her head, some engaging in activities like laughing and drinking. Two were included in her 1992 exhibition at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, “Everybody needs at least one window.”

an x-ray image of a human figure in profile drinking from a wine glass. a self portrait by isa genzken from 1990 via moma
Isa Genzken, X-ray, 1990, via MoMA

Three were included in her retrospective at MoMA in 2013.

r h quaytman's small 2012 work genzken's skull is a small square wood panel painted in ultramarine blue with a kind of oceanic green skull in profile filling the square, mounted atop a pink gessoed wood panel of the same height but wider, so a pink rectangle protrudes on the right underneath. at the renaissance society in chicago in 2013
R.H. Quaytman, Passing Through The Opposite Of What It Approaches, Chapter 25 (Genzken’s Skull), 2012, wax, tempera, gesso, on two panels, 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 in. and 12 3/8 x 20 3/8 in. via Ren Soc

In 2013 R.H. Quaytman presented a show at the Renaissance Society that referenced the 40 year career of executive director Susanne Ghez. Passing Through The Opposite Of What It Approaches, Chapter 25 (Genzken’s Skull) (2012) includes an inverted version of one of Genzken’s X-Ray self-portraits.

gerhard richter skull painting from 1983, a soft blur painting of a skull in profile sitting on a dark table in a starkly lit space, black and white zones in the background that meet as if in a corner at the top of the skull. the first in a series of skull paintings richter made, he kept this one for himself, but made a photo edition in 2017, for the masses [sic]
Gerhard Richter, Skull (CR 548-1), 1983, oil on canvas, 55 x 50 cm, via Gerhard Richter

I don’t think any of this has anything to do with Gerhard Richter making a series of Skull paintings in 1983—a year into his 11-year marriage to Genzken— or to him making a laminated photo edition of Skull in 2017.