Birth

Birth is one in a portfolio of fourteen drypoint etchings collectively titled Autobiographical Series. It is based on a drawing Bourgeois made in 1941 (Untitled, Museum of Fine Arts, Bern), the year her second son was born. It portrays the painful moment of separation as the infant leaves the mother's body: her difficulty in letting go is suggested by the cocoon of her hair which encloses both their bodies. Although her hands seem to be pushing the baby out of her belly, her hair is holding him back. Baby and mother's heads are of equal size, separated by her little body. A line across the top of the mother's neck mirrors the line which separates her body from her baby's head, suggesting a similarity between them, although her eyes are open and she has a pained expression on her face, while his eyes are shut and he appears peacefully asleep.