Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor print by Kiki Smith. It dates from 2008 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 2008, this work by Kiki Smith is an etching enhanced with watercolor, part of The Museum of Modern Art’s collection. It presents a quiet interior scene with minimal narrative detail, blending printmaking with delicate hand-applied color. The composition centers on a figure and an animal within a sparse domestic space, evoking stillness rather than action.
Subject & Meaning
A girl in a red cape and bonnet stands in a doorway, holding a basket, while a dog leaps from a bed nearby. The figures appear detached, their expressions uninflected, suggesting introspection or transition. The absence of clear context invites interpretation—perhaps referencing folklore, childhood, or the liminal space between states of being—without prescribing a single reading.
Technique & Style
Smith employed etching to define the structural elements of the scene, then added watercolor washes to introduce subtle tonal shifts in skin, fabric, and walls.
Smith employed etching to define the structural elements of the scene, then added watercolor washes to introduce subtle tonal shifts in skin, fabric, and walls. The muted palette of browns, grays, and yellows reinforces the work’s somber tone. The dog’s open mouth and extended tongue are rendered with slight exaggeration, introducing a touch of the uncanny within an otherwise restrained aesthetic.
History & Provenance
The work entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection shortly after its creation. It is one of several prints from Smith’s late 2000s period in which she explored domestic interiors and bodily presence through mixed-media print techniques. No prior ownership or exhibition history beyond MoMA’s acquisition is documented in public records.
Context
Smith’s work from this period often engages with themes of vulnerability, the body, and domesticity, drawing from myth, personal experience, and feminist discourse. The use of watercolor over etching reflects her broader interest in layering meaning and material, aligning with contemporary printmaking practices that blur boundaries between reproduction and handcrafted intervention.
Legacy
This piece contributes to Smith’s ongoing exploration of quiet, psychologically charged scenes that resist easy interpretation. Its inclusion in MoMA’s collection affirms its place within a broader conversation about the role of printmaking in contemporary art, particularly in works that merge traditional techniques with intimate, narrative-driven imagery.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kiki Smith is a German-born American artist whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration.
