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The Three Moirai
The Three Moirai

The Three Moirai

Artist (United States, born 1943)
Date1969
MediumEtching on paper
DimensionsIMAGE: 13 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (349.2 x 450.9 mm)
SHEET: 17 3/4 x 21 3/4 in. (450.9 x 552.4 mm)
Object TypePrints
Credit LineKSU, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
Edition8/20
Object number1971.2
On View
Not on view
Description

·         The Three Moirai is another name for the Three Fates of Greco-Roman mythology. They were three sisters, whose will could not be changed, even by the gods. The artist took up this guise for her triple self-portrait.

 

·         In 1969, Thorington was pregnant when a fellow female printmaker suggested she do a self-portrait. Thorington saw her pregnancy as dependent on fate. Would the baby be healthy? What gender would it be? What would she let loose on the world?

 

·         About the background, she writes, “Ah yes, the world – that was exactly the right background for the fates. And the people, the people in the worlds must be shimmering in the darkness, must be waiting for these women, these Moirai, to decide their fate.”

 

·         Prior to Second Wave Feminism, media depictions of pregnancy were rare and even more rare in the nude. It was 1952 before the first pregnant character graced the television screen in I Love Lucy, though it was still taboo to use the word “pregnant.” Thorington took the chance, creating a portrait of herself as she was at that moment in time.

Exhibitions
The Druids
Caroline Thorington
1966
2017.469
Midsummer's Eve
Caroline Thorington
1973
2017.278
Is a Carousel a Merry-go-round?
Caroline Thorington
1969
2017.272
Christ and the Money Changers
Caroline Thorington
1970
2017.276
Anubus Contemplating Anubis
Caroline Thorington
1980
2017.10
Warthog
Caroline Thorington
1990
2006.60
Babarusa
Caroline Thorington
1989
2006.61
Old World Sow
Caroline Thorington
1988
2006.62
Pecari [Peccaries]
Caroline Thorington
1988
2006.63
Porcos do Mato
Caroline Thorington
1988
2006.64
A Plate of Radishes
Caroline Thorington
1991
2017.264
Footfalls Echo in the Memory
Caroline Thorington
1970
2017.277