Kiki Smith
Sycamore

ExpandFavorite

Images(2)

Artist Kiki Smith (American, born Germany, 1954)American, born Germany, 1954

CultureAmerican

Titles

Sycamore

Date1999

MediumInkjet print

Dimensionsimage: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61.0 cm)
sheet: 23 15/16 × 28 1/16 in. (60.8 × 71.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Devin Borden and Hiram Butler in honor of Clinton T. Willour

Object number2001.380

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionThe multimedia artist Kiki Smith created this beautiful yet enigmatic composition of sycamore branches by scanning her photographs onto a computer, manipulating the images, composition, and color, and then printing it as a composite. The tangled branches and dark seed pods of the grid resemble a mysterious calligraphic message printed across the grey sky. Smith has explored nature and mythology in her work for decades, creating mystical compositions sprung from everyday life. “I’m completely influenced by where I am, what’s around me. I just react,” stated Smith.
Provenance Research Ongoing Exhibition HistoryExhibited in "Originality and Repetition: The Grid in Contemporary Works on Paper," at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 14 to September 11, 2005
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil, recto, lower left: "9/20"

Signed in pencil, recto, lower right: "Kiki Smith 1999"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Discover More

Kiki Smith

Free Fall

1994

Photogravure, etching, and drypoint on kozo paper, edition 14/40

2015.525

Kiki Smith

Home

2006

Spit bite in colors, aquatint with flat bite, hard ground and soft ground etching, and drypoint, printed chine collé on Gampi paper, on wove paper, edition 8/20

2017.136