marriage

Kiki Smith's Dowry Book

Kiki Smith’s Dowry Book is an intimate, palm-sized collection of images, each representing an exhibition Smith had between 1982 and 1995, a time when she was particularly focused on issues of AIDS, gender, and race. The Hirshhorn Library’s copy is from a limited edition of 800 signed copies, issued in a plain, cardboard slipcase, and designed by Smith on a computer. The illustrated cloth boards reproduce Smith’s Dowry Cloth, 1990, made of women’s hair and sheep’s wool felted together.

Matrimonial Advice

“A little book of advice to be given to all those contemplating matrimony, married or engaged.” Embossed gold lettering adorns the linen cover of this charming and humorous book of advice for wedded bliss. The book is divided into two sections: “Advice to the Man” and “Advice to the Woman,” in which pages alternate between 17 polychromatic drawings on watercolor paper, colored by the author, and black and white pages with sketches and quatrains elaborating on the simple advice.