id: 313095 accession number: 2018.210 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.210 updated: 2023-05-10 11:10:09.107000 Cotton, 1997. Kara Walker (American, b. 1969), published by Landfall Press. Etching and aquatint with spitbite, printed chine collé, on white wove paper; platemark: 30 x 22.5 cm (11 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.); sheet: 46.3 x 37.4 cm (18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2018.210 © Kara Walker title: Cotton title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1997 creation date earliest: 1997 creation date latest: 1997 current location: creditline: Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund copyright: © Kara Walker --- culture: America, 20th century technique: etching and aquatint with spitbite, printed chine collé, on white wove paper department: Prints collection: PR - Etching type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Kara Walker (American, b. 1969) - artist * Landfall Press - publisher --- measurements: Platemark: 30 x 22.5 cm (11 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 46.3 x 37.4 cm (18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: 6/35 support materials: inscriptions: inscription: In graphite in lower left on recto: “6/35” translation: remark: inscription: In graphite in lower right on recto: “KW97 (initialed)” translation: remark: inscription: Stamped in ink in lower left on verso: “COPYRIGHT 1997/LANDFALL PRESS INC./329 W. 18th STREET/SUITE 601/CHICAGO, IL 60616” translation: remark: inscription: In graphite in lower left on verso: “KW-96-05 A” translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Women in Print: Recent Acquisitions opening date: 2022-01-16T05:00:00 Women in Print: Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-June 19, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Charles M. Young Fine Prints, Portland, CT date: footnotes: citations: the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: September 4, 2018 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: Since the early 1990s, Kara Walker has explored issues of race, gender, and power throughout American history—especially the antebellum South. This print is one of many works in which she referenced silhouettes, a traditional art form during the 19th century. With violence that contrasts the medium’s gentility, a woman falls into a massive basket of cotton bolls, commenting on the violence inflicted upon African slaves. wall description: Since the early 1990s, Kara Walker has referenced silhouettes, a popular form of portraiture in the American South during the 1800s, in various printmaking techniques. Contrasting such carefully composed likenesses, this work portrays a woman tumbling into a massive basket of cotton bolls. Walker chose materials for this print that further suggest the violence inflicted on enslaved Africans, painting directly on a printing plate with corrosive acid and allowing unintended scratches in its surface to remain visible. This combination of imagery and process has allowed her to explore issues of race, gender, and power throughout US history. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES