Lilith
Kiki Smith
(American, born in 1954)
1994
Medium/TechniqueSilicon bronze and glass
Dimensions83.8 x 69.9 x 48.3 cm (33 x 27 1/2 x 19 in.)
Credit LineContemporary Art Support Group Fund, Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Acquisition Fund, Barbara Fish Lee, and Lorna and Robert M. Rosenberg Fund
Accession number1996.60
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Smith’s art is devoted to the exploration of the human body, inside and out. This deliberately unsettling sculpture was created from life casts of a female model and, in accordance with the artist’s instructions, it is hung so that Lilith clings to the wall upside down, staring up at the viewer with glass eyes. The title refers to an ancient Sumerian demon, a creature of the air who, in post-biblical Hebrew legend is identified as Adam’s intended first wife, who flew away when he refused to accept her as his equal. Long relegated to the realms of superstition and viewed as an evil spirit dangerous to men and children, Lilith has been reinterpreted in recent decades as an ideal of female strength and independence.
In medieval Jewish lore, Lilith was Adam’s first wife. When she demanded to be Adam’s equal, she was evicted from the Garden of Eden. Lilith flew away to the demon world, replaced by the more submissive Eve. Smith catches us off guard with Lilith’s pose and placement. Most sculptures receive our gaze passively, but Lilith stares back with piercing brown eyes, ready to pounce.
ProvenanceBy 1995, with Pace Wildenstein, New York; 1996, sold by Pace Wildenstein to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 22, 1996)
CopyrightReproduced with permission.
