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Kiki Smith

American, born Germany, 1954

Mortal

Mortal

Mortal, 2007

portfolio of twelve woodcuts

6/13

each (sheet): 22 3/4 x 28 1/2 inches (57.78 x 72.39 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Elisabeth H. Gates Fund, by exchange and Charles W. Goodyear Fund, by exchange, 2010

P2010:14a-l

Inscriptions:

edition notation / front, bottom left / 6/13

signature, dated / front, bottom right / Kiki Smith 2007

Provenance:

October 5, 2010, purchased by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Object Classifications:

Prints

Woodcut (print)

Portfolio (group of works)

Information may change due to ongoing research. Glossary of Terms

Kiki Smith’s work often explores mortality, bodily dissolution, and decay. Mortal is a series of twelve woodcut etchings recording the end of her mother’s life. The work's raw edginess recalls the numerous woodcut prints created by artists associated with German Expressionism in the first half of the twentieth century. Smith, however, has imbued her images with a delicacy that pays tribute to grief and the act of dying. The figure emerges as a negative image in fine lines from a dark ground that seems to reflect the frailty of human life in its final stages.

Label from One Another: Spiderlike, I Spin Mirrors, March 7–June 1, 2014