Banshee Pearls

Kiki Smith, artist

born 1954

Universal Limited Art Editions, printer and publisher

founded 1957

Banshee Pearls, 1991

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: torinoko paper; color lithograph

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 575 x 768 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 575 x 768 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 22 5/8 x 30 1/4 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 24 1/4 x 31 3/4 x 1 in
Weight (Weight): 7 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 2000.0090.12

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

A Wry Eye: Witty, Sardonic and Ironic Work by Contemporary Printmakers

The twelve sheets of Banshee Pearls were composed from photographs, X-rays, and photocopied images of mith’s head, often layered over one another with added drawing. The cumulative effect is one of a vibrant resonance between these compounded images, whose accumulations become beautiful as do those of a pearl. Ultimately, this resonance hovers around the idea of mortality, a notion that is reinforced by the title word banshee, “a female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in a family.”

A Wry Eye: Witty, Sardonic and Ironic Work by Contemporary Printmakers

Exhibition Label: "Sum of the Parts: Recent Works on Paper," Jun-2001, Stephen Goddard The twelve sheets of Banshee Pearls were composed from photographs and photocopies of Smith’s head, often layered over one another with added drawing. The cumulative effect is one of vibrant internal resonance in which reflections and echoes of a face harmonize beautifully and mysteriously with one another and with other forms. The prints, which may be installed in any order, invite the viewer’s own self-analysis.