The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 14, 2026

An intaglio print and inked threads on vertically oriented paper feature two distinct, stacked color fields. The upper section of muted green contains a jagged gray band arcing from the left edge. Below, diagonal gray brushstrokes streak across warm yellow. A thin, looping red thread winds through the center, crossing a red organic form. In the bottom right, a dark green leaf sits above handwritten text identifying the work as "Bough and Cradle Falls."

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 2023.208.1
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist chose a thin Japanese Akatosashi paper for this print specifically because of 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=14 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.208.1