A woman’s face in three quarter profile with a blue-green and red shoreline behind her
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

At lower left in the extreme foreground, a woman is shown from the shoulders up. Rendered in a muted olive color, she has long dark hair and pronounced dark circles around her eyes, as she stares past us to the right. She stands on a rocky shore which meets the water in a curving line that stretches behind her. The shore is green-blue, somewhat darker than the woman, and the water is pale blue. At upper right, the curving shape of the shoreline continues as a red mass looming in the distance. Horizontal wood grain shows up throughout the image.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.272
People
Edvard Munch, Norwegian (Loiten, Norway 1863 - 1944 Ekely, Norway)
Printed by M. W. Lassally
Title
Woman's Head against the Shore
Other Titles
Former Title: Girl's Head on the Shore
Original Language Title: Kvinnehode mot stranden
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1899
Culture
Norwegian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/343043

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3500, Special Exhibitions Gallery
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Woodcut printed in red and three different colors of green ink on tan wove paper
Technique
Woodcut
Dimensions
image: 46.5 x 41.2 cm (18 5/16 x 16 1/4 in.)
sheet: 58 x 47 cm (22 13/16 x 18 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower sheet margin below right corner of block, graphite

    : Edv Munch / Edv. Munch
  • inscription: lower right corner of sheet, graphite: 72
  • inscription: lower margin, to left, brown ink: [A two-line inscription in brown ink has been eradicated to the point of illegibility.]
  • inscription: verso, graphite: No 26 [underlined]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Sotheby's, New York], sold; to Philip and Lynn Straus (1985-2012); Lynn Straus, gift; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Woll II.2
Standard Reference Number
Woll 152, Schiefler 129

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lynn G. Straus in memory of Philip A. Straus
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.272
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Jennifer Roberts, Contact: The Art and Pull of Print, Princeton University Press (Princeton and Oxford, 2024), p. 76, fig. 3.3, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu