Trademark

Artist: Hung Liu, American (born China), 1948–2021
Printer: Washington University Collaborative Printmaking Workshop, Saint Louis, Missouri, founded 1978
Publisher: Washington University Collaborative Printmaking Workshop, Saint Louis, Missouri, founded 1978
Date: 1992
Material: Photolithograph with attached wooden blocks
made in: Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 16 3/8 in. × 26 in. (41.6 × 66 cm)
plate: 16 5/8 in. × 26 in. (42.2 × 66 cm)
sheet: 22 1/2 in. × 33 in. (57.2 × 83.8 cm)
framed: 27 3/8 × 37 1/8 in. (69.5 × 94.3 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Endowment Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund
Rights: © Hung Liu Estate 2024
Object Number: 743:2020

NOTES

Six young women wearing fine silk sit on display for the choosing. They are 19th-century Qing dynasty sex workers, often girls sold into service by poorer Chinese families. Wooden blocks bearing reproductions of a 17th-century European portrait of a Chinese woman are positioned on top of this lithograph. Arts writer Tessa Solomon explains, “[Hung] Liu was inspired by the people society had exploited, marginalized, and discarded—orphans, migrants, mothers, prostitutes …” In her paintings and prints, Liu aimed to underscore the individuality and humanity of overlooked people.

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