Ron Mueck

A Girl

About this artwork

This enormous sculpture by Mueck measures just over five metres in length and captures a newly delivered baby in her first glimpse of the surrounding world. Mueck exploits scale to affect the viewer’s perception of his sculptures. In creating this gigantic new born baby he uses scale as an expressive device to enhance and bring to the fore both the trauma and the miracle of birth. In her first stretch from the foetal position she clenches her fists and toes with the umbilical cord, which once supplied her with life, hanging limply. Her squashed and battered body, smeared with traces of blood, reveals the reality of the ordeal which we have all experienced but do not recall. Mueck’s sculptures deliberately stir emotions and encourage the viewers to consider the human body anew.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Ron Mueck (born 1958) Australian
  • title:
    A Girl
  • date created:
    2006
  • materials:
    Mixed media (edition of 1 plus A/P)
  • measurements:
    110.50 x 501.00 x 134.50 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased with Art Fund support, 2007
  • accession number:
    GMA 4821
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • glossary:
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Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck