Artist
Elinor Carucci (American, born Israel, 1971)American, born Israel, 1971
CultureAmerican
Titles
- My Mother's Lips
Date1997
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 12 13/16 × 19 1/8 in. (32.5 × 48.6 cm)
Sheet: 16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.6 cm)
Sheet: 16 × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Joan Morgenstern
Object number2007.1674
Not on view
Explore Further
Department
PhotographyObject Type
Throughout her career, Elinor Carucci has focused her
camera on family members, beginning with her mother, to explore her own
relationships and identity. “When I was twenty-two, she put lipstick on my
lips, her lipstick,” she wrote. “This was one of many things that were both,
somehow, continuity and separation. My own femininity yet always drawing on
hers.” Over the years, Carucci zoomed in tighter, finding that the closer she got,
the more universal the meaning of the work became. “A mark on the skin, a
stitch, a hair, an eye, a kiss—carried the work beyond the boundaries of my
family.”
Provenance[Ricco Maresca Gallery, New York]; purchased by Joan Morgenstern, Houston, April 1, 2000; given to MFAH, 2007.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Marked in ink verso bottom center: "My mother's lips 1997 #8/15 © "
Illegible marks in ink, verso lower right.
Illegible marks in ink, verso lower right.
Signed verso lower left in ink: "Elinor Carucci"
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
Stephen Laub
1972, printed 1995
Silver dye bleach print
96.666