Lungs

Kit Paulson, Lungs, 2020, glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund, 2021.22, © 2020, Kit Paulson
Kit Paulson, Lungs, 2020, glass, 12 34 × 9 12 × 3 38 in. (32.4 × 24.1 × 8.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund, 2021.22, © 2020, Kit Paulson

Artwork Details

Title
Lungs
Artist
Date
2020
Dimensions
12 34 × 9 12 × 3 38 in. (32.4 × 24.1 × 8.6 cm)
Copyright
© 2020, Kit Paulson
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund
Mediums
Mediums Description
glass
Object Number
2021.22

Artwork Description

Kit Paulson shapes thin strands of heat-resistant glass with a torch to create intricate sculptures. Lungs draws comparison to the structuring of veins and lacework. The artist transformed the alveoli, the tiny air sacs on the lungs, into flowers. Paulson finished this work just weeks before the pandemic of COVID-19, a disease that causes numerous complications in the lungs.


This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022


Verbal Description

This delicate glass sculpture forms the shape of the human respiratory system. The lungs are a foot tall and nine inches wide with a depth of approximately four inches. The windpipe, which extends upward from the center of the sculpture, is a fleshy pink tube with a ribbed texture. At center, the windpipe splits into two thinner bronchial tubes that mirror each other, forming a wide wishbone shape. From each of these smaller tubes sprout numerous thin, colorless glass branches, which in turn sprout others. This creates a radiating network of stems and tiny buds that mimics the overall shape of a pair of lungs. Enclosed within this network are bouquets of tiny delicate glass flowers that blossom from the bronchial tubes like alveoli. The foundational bright pink windpipe and bronchial tubes stand out through the maze of clear glass. 

Works by this artist (36 items)

Claire Falkenstein, Fertility, 1941, polychromed ash, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Claire Falkenstein McCarthy Trust, 1998.24.1
Fertility
Date1941
polychromed ash
On view
Claire Falkenstein, Floating Structure, 1958-1959, cut and brazed iron, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Susan Morse Hilles, 1977.2.1
Floating Structure
Date1958-1959
cut and brazed iron
On view
Claire Falkenstein, Envelope, 1958, steel wire assemblage, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1981.109.6
Envelope
Date1958
steel wire assemblage
On view
Claire Falkenstein, Baseball Bat, 1941, polychromed ash, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Claire Falkenstein McCarthy Trust, 1998.24.2
Baseball Bat
Date1941
polychromed ash
On view

Exhibitions

Quilt featuring the portrait of a woman
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
May 13, 2022April 2, 2023
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today.

More Artworks from the Collection

Peter Minchell, THE ENEMY FLED SEEING JUDITH WITH THE HEAD of HOLOFERNES, 1973, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.183
THE ENEMY FLED SEEING JUDITH WITH THE HEAD of HOLOFERNES
Date1973
watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil on paper
Not on view
Claude Buck, Sunburst, 1913, gouache, watercolor, pencil, pen and colored ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1983.48.4
Sunburst
Date1913
gouache, watercolor, pencil, pen and colored ink on paper
Not on view
John Banks, To Much Fun? In the Wrong Place, 1980s, colored pencil, watercolor and felt-tipped pen on poster board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.104
To Much Fun? In the Wrong Place
Date1980s
colored pencil, watercolor and felt-tipped pen on poster board
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Portrait of William H. Johnson, ca. 1930-1938, pen and ink and watercolor with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.490
Portrait of William H. Johnson
Artist
Dateca. 1930-1938
pen and ink and watercolor with pencil on paper
Not on view