Judy Chicago

Birth Tear/Tear, 1985
Serigraph on Stonehenge
Natural White paper

Paper Dimensions:
30 x 40 inches
(76.2 x 101.6 cm)
Image Dimensions:
24 x 35 inches
(61 x 88.9 cm)

Edition of 75, 8 AP, 7 CP, 1BT, 6 Publisher’s Proofs, 1PP, 5 Roman Numbered, and 1 A.I.
Unframed
Less than 10 remaining in the edition

Signed “Judy Chicago 1985”  bottom right



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Far from romanticizing birth, Chicago wanted to show its painful elements, as in Birth Tear/Tear. The print’s creation could be considered similarly painstaking; a total of 24 colors were used in the printing process, creating a depth of tone that magnifies and electrifies the tearing open of the woman’s body. Chicago is as much committed to the grand message as she is to the detail: a single tear oozes from the protagonist’s eye, devastating and unglamorous.


Printed at Unified Arts, Albuquerque, NM



Print based on The Birth Project needlepoint EU-81 Birth Tear/Tear, 1983 (Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York)