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Catalog Data

Artist:
Kiki Smith, born 18 Jan 1954  Search this
Sitter:
Kiki Smith, born 18 Jan 1954  Search this
Medium:
Photogravure, etching and drypoint on paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 84.5 x 106 cm (33 1/4 x 41 3/4")
Type:
Print
Date:
1994
Exhibition Label:
Kiki Smith’s art is rooted in the human body— particularly the female body, through which she explores deeply personal themes that touch on women’s shared experiences. She has described her vulnerable self-presentation in Free Fall as a metaphor for her life as an artist. Emerging from a cardboard enclosure, her image literally unfolds before our eyes. Smith cultivated the portrait’s timeworn appearance not only with the creased paper but also through the use of photogravure, a nineteenth-century technique. The stippled texture of the skin and rough scratches in the background were created deliberately with infrared film and a sandpapered etching plate.
El arte de Kiki Smith se basa en el cuerpo humano, en particular el femenino, a través del cual explora temas sumamente personales que a su vez aluden a experiencias femeninas compartidas. Ha descrito la vulnerable imagen que presenta en Free Fall como una metáfora de su vida de artista. Surgiendo de un cartón en forma de tarjeta, su imagen literalmente se desdobla ante nuestros ojos. Smith enfatiza la apariencia de desgaste del retrato con los dobleces del papel y también con el empleo del fotograbado, una técnica del siglo XIX. La textura punteada de la piel y los rayados del fondo se lograron con película infrarroja y aplicando papel de lija a la placa de grabado.
Topic:
Self-portrait  Search this
Kiki Smith: Female  Search this
Kiki Smith: Visual Arts\Artist\Sculptor  Search this
Portrait  Search this
Credit Line:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection
Object number:
S/NPG.2002.334
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
Copyright:
© Kiki Smith, courtesy Pace Gallery and Universal Limited Art Editions
See more items in:
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location:
Currently not on view
Data Source:
National Portrait Gallery
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4920cfd6c-9f83-4c5e-9b80-d057a93d4de3
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npg_S_NPG.2002.334