Birth (Translation)
Geburt (Primary Title)

Conrad Felixmüller, German, 1897 - 1977 (Artist)

1921
German
Works On Paper
Prints
etching printed in sanguine on wove paper
Sheet: 18 13/16 × 14 5/8 in. (47.78 × 37.15 cm)
Plate: 11 × 10 1/8 in. (27.94 × 25.72 cm)
2009.147
Not on view

Felixmüller depicted this unusually frank scene—an exhausted mother and her infant the moment after birth—the year after his own wife gave birth to two sons, Luca and Titus, within two years. Combined with the images he also made of his wife breastfeeding, this etching makes evident his close relationship with his family in an era when men were discouraged from being overly associated with the domestic sphere. While many artists before him had offered idealized images of motherhood, few offered such a vulnerable, intimate view.

Signed in graphite lower right: "Felixmüller" Signed in plate lower right with artists monogram: "FM"
Inscribed in graphite lower left: "29/30" Inscribed in graphite at lower left corner: "Handdrucke Rad."; lower center: "-Geburt-" Inscribed in graphite on verso, lower left: "68/ (162.)
The Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection, Gift of the Estate of Anne R. Fischer
©artist or artist’s estate

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