Falcon

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Artist Kiki Smith (American, b. Germany,1954)

Title Falcon

Date 2001

Medium Color etching, soft ground, aquatint, and sugar lift and spit bite on paper

Dimensions Image: 24 7/8 × 19 13/16 in. (63.2 × 50.3 cm)
Plate: 24 7/8 × 19 13/16 in. (63.2 × 50.3 cm)
Sheet: 34 3/4 × 28 in. (88.3 × 71.1 cm)
Framed: 37 5/8 × 30 3/4 × 2 in. (95.6 × 78.1 × 5.1 cm)

Credit Line Museum purchase with funds from the Elisabeth P. Myers Art Acquisition Endowment, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 2016.122

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About this Work

Recognized as a leading feminist sculptor and installation artist, Kiki Smith is also known as a talented printmaker, particularly for her images based on dead animals. Despite the apparent realism in this print, grounded in the traditions of scientiﬁc illustration, there is a sense of macabre and mystery to the work. Is the black falconry hood on the bird meant to suggest a crown or executioner’s mask? Recalling the mass killing of birds by naturalists such as John James Audubon, this haunting image suggests the negative effects of man on the environment and raises deeper spiritual questions about the balance of life and death.

Provenance
More Details

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Publisher Harlan Weaver, Inc.

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"Falcon | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2016.122