The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 13, 2026

This intaglio and sugar lift print comprises five vertical panels, each capped by white margins. In the outer four, a thick purple-gray arc sweeps across a muted green field, while wavy gray lines populate a pale yellow section below. A delicate red thread loops through these areas near small red and green organic forms. The center panel remains an unadorned field, horizontally bisected into solid green and yellow zones.

Bough and Cradle Falls

2017

Kumi Korf

(American, b. 1937)
America
intaglio, sugar lift, aquatint, stencils, and inked threads on Akatosashi paper
Image: 80.2 x 24.8 cm (31 9/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Sheet: 93 x 24.8 cm (36 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 2023.208
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist chose a thin Japanese Akatosashi paper for this print specifically for its sheen and translucency.

Description

Bringing together influences from both Japanese traditional arts (for example, the scroll format of this print) and European modernism (for example, the abstracted forms), Kumi Korf’s primary inspiration is rooted in the natural world. In Bough and the Cradle Falls, an amorphic figure in saturated autumnal red gently tumbles down from the soft blue field, evoking the verses of the nursery rhyme, which is both somber and resonant.
  • Kumi Korf (the artist) [1937–], commissioned by The Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH
    2023
    The Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    December 4, 2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Bough and Cradle Falls|url=false|author=Kumi Korf|year=2017|access-date=13 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.208