Coup de Grâce

Artist Alison Saar (American, born 1956)

Date2012

MediumFour-color lithograph Edition 16/16

DimensionsImage / sheet: 19 1/8 × 25 1/8 inches (48.6 × 63.8 cm);
Frame: 26 3/8 × 31 3/8 × 1 1/2 inches (67 × 79.7 × 3.8 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Truman W. Eustis III, Class of 1951

Terms

Prints
Four-color lithograph
American

Object number2015.004

Label CopyThe daughter of artist Betye Saar, Alison Saar’s work examines many of the same social and political issues. Her use of a wide range of media can be traced to her early training with her father, an art conservator, from whom she gained a firsthand experience of a variety of techniques. After attending the Otis College of Art and Design, Saar began exhibiting her work, often deemed controversial for the difficult, often violent, subjects she addresses. In Coup de grâce the seated woman bites the umbilical cord that tethers her to the large ball of yarn, severing a connection that has taken on frightening proportions. The simplicity of the composition and the softly modulated background emphasize the stark brutality of this action, the figure’s eyes rolled upwards as if to ward off the pain. ("Imprint/ In Print," curated by Nancy E. Green with assistance from Christian Waibel '17 and presented at the Johnson Museum August 8 - December 20, 2015)

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