The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Cabbage Patch Birthing Center

1985

Jeff Jacobson

(American, 1946–2020)
cibachrome
Image: 40.5 x 50.7 cm (15 15/16 x 19 15/16 in.); Paper: 40.5 x 50.7 cm (15 15/16 x 19 15/16 in.)
Gift of Henry Jacobson 2020.340
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Each Cabbage Patch Kid doll is unique, thanks to randomization programmed into a computerized assembly line.

Description

Jeff Jacobson sought to reveal “the emotions underlying American mythology,” such as this birthing center for Cabbage Patch Kids Toys. The dolls became a national craze and financial goldmine thanks to a clever origin story: they are born in a cabbage patch. Jacobson shows the nurse’s hands, palpating the cabbage about to give birth, in the sharpest focus, but keeps us in suspense by choosing the moment before the baby is revealed.
  • Jeff Jacobson (the artist) [1946-2020], Mt. Tremper, NY
    ?-2020
    Henry Jacobson, Los Angeles, CA
    December 7, 2020
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Cabbage Patch Birthing Center|url=false|author=Jeff Jacobson|year=1985|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.340