Kiki Smith

Identification  Title: Lying with the Wolf  Date: 2001  Artist: Kiki Smith  German-American  Father was artist Tony Smith  Grew up in New Jersey  Hartford Art School  Lives in New York City  Various museums across world

Content  Part of a series illustrating women’s relationship w/ animals  Depicts a female nude reclining alongside a wolf  Woman and wolf comfort each in a paradoxically intimate embrace  Draws from but changes representations found in visual, literary, and oral histories (folk tales, biblical stories, etc.)  Woman is based on the folktales of Little Red Riding Hood and religious narratives of Sainte Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris)  These two narratives are split and combined to form a new storyline  Critics classify such an approach to narrative to be of a feminist nature  Binaries are flipped, opposing qualities merged (i.e., predator and prey)  Favors incorporation of multiple possible meanings as well as themes

Patron / Site  No patron  Musée National d'Art Moderne  Paris, France  Intended for public view  Openly conveys feminist, natural, and other themes to the global community  Displayed w/ vast collections of modern and contemporary art w/ possibly related themes

Media / Scale  Ink and pencil on paper  Delicate  Hangs wrinkled and pinned to the wall of the museum  Type of media may be an allusion to the primitive nature of the historical, religious, and mythological sources on which the artwork is based  Type of media may also convey the notion of simplicity in truth  88 x 73 inches  Life-size depiction of the woman and the wolf  Permits the viewer to hold a realistic perspective of the situation

Purpose  Respect for the natural world  Bonding and relationship between humans and animals  Feminism  Depicts a woman in the dangers and beauty of the natural world  Combines split narratives into novel representations of traditional themes  Redefines societal hierarchies  Predator and prey are metaphors for hierarchies based on gender, race, class  Flips binaries, merges opposing qualities, and equalizes power  Overturns the inequality of patriarchal and other contemporary societies  Human body  Conveys the domesticity and vulnerability of the human body  Connects the earthly to the spiritual, the personal to the collective

Style  Realistic  Both woman and wolf display simple, accurate anatomy  Facial expression of woman conveys peace, affection for wolf  Proportions  Figures are drawn to life-size  Abstract  Figures float within the abstract space of the paper medium  Reclining poses of both woman and wolf are therefore not realistic  Lack of detail allows ambiguity in meaning and themes

Formal Elements  Color  Black and white  Leads to an abstract lack of detail  Light  Byproduct of color  No specific light source  Lines  Sharp, black, provide necessary contrast  Curvilinear in the forms of the figures  Shapes  Slightly geometric (e.g., wolf’s ears)

Formal Elements  Space  Three-dimensional  Depth from overlapping, foreshortening  Abstract in regards to the background  Balance  Static  Slightly dynamic due to stroking of fur  Asymmetrical grouping of figures  Composition and Texture  Ink and pencil on paper  Wrinkled texture of paper, smooth of ink

Additional Works  Rapture  2001  Bronze sculpture  Same series as Lying with the Wolf  Depicts woman (Red Riding Hood) emerging from stomach of a wolf  Strong feminist theme  Blood Pool  1992  Wax, gauze, and pigment  Small, beaten figure huddled into the fetal position on the ground  Intimate probing of the human body and its various vulnerabilities