Lot 40
DOUGLAS GORDON (SCOTTISH 1966-) §
CROQUE MORT (D) - 2000
Auction: 14 October 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Digital c-type print, 7/13, signed to a gallery label verso
Dimensions
92.5cm x 136cm (36.5in x 53.5in)
Provenance
Gagosian Gallery, New York.
Footnote
This colour photograph is one of seven in the ‘Croque Mort’ series that document Douglas Gordon’s newborn child. The whole series has previously been installed as a group in a room with red walls and carpets, which when seen together create a womb-like environment. A ‘croque mort’ is a French undertaker, who as legend has it would bite the feet of the recently deceased to make sure they were dead - the literal translation of this title is ‘the one who bites the dead.’ Gordon’s baby playfully bites its own fingers and feet in this series of photographs as if checking its own existence, serving as a reminder of the fragile balance between life and death.
There is an edition of this print in the Arts Council Collection in the Hayward Gallery London.