Marlene Dumas – Original Mixed Media Work

1986


This striking mixed media (Lithograph with Collage) is an early and rare work by internationally acclaimed South African artist Marlene Dumas. The piece features an expressive portrait of a baby, “Tripoli Baby”, rendered in bold black brushstrokes. With a striking detail of two pink bows, applied as a collage – a tactile addition that gives the work even more character.

Hand-signed and dated “1986” in pencil at the lower left 
Hand-numbered in pencil - from an extremely limited edition of just 20 copies
Titled “Tripoli Baby” in pencil at the center of the bottom margin.
on 250 gsm B.F.K. Rives paper

Tripoli Baby is a striking early work that reflects Dumas’s raw, psychologically charged aesthetic and her enduring interest in the fragility of the human condition.The lithograph is printed on heavyweight, hand-crafted B.F.K. Rives paper (250 gsm). The work is part of a series held in a.o. in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, underscoring its institutional significance and cultural value.

The work is professionally framed to museum standards in a double, acid-free floating mount on linen, within a custom, handcrafted white wooden frame with PLEXIGLAS® Optical HC, offering UV protection, scratch resistance, and minimal reflection.
Size framed : approx. 100 × 80 cm

Marlene Dumas (b. 1953) is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary artists of her generation. Her work explores themes of identity, vulnerability, corporeality, and political representation. Often based on found or media images, her portraits transform photography into emotionally charged painterly narratives. Dumas’s works are held in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, Tate Modern, London, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.