African/American
Silhouettes—those traditionally small and genteel forms of nineteenth-century portraiture—are (sometimes literally) turned on their heads in Kara Walker's work. Since the 1990s she has been making large-scale silhouettes out of cut-black paper as well as prints that are either framed or applied directly to white walls at times around entire rooms. Boldly graphic in their black-on-white design and beautifully crafted with intricate cutouts, these elegant works nevertheless address difficult and heinous subjects in American history related to racial stereotyping, slavery, and the subjugation of women. The artist described this particular figure as "your essentialist-token slave maiden in midair."
Artwork Details
- Title: African/American
- Artist: Kara Walker (American, born Stockton, California, 1969)
- Publisher: Landfall Press (Chicago, Illinois)
- Date: 1998
- Medium: Linocut
- Edition: 10/40 + proofs
- Dimensions: 46 1/2 × 60 1/2 in. (118.1 × 153.7 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of the Peter Norton Family Foundation, 1998
- Object Number: 1998.456.3
- Rights and Reproduction: © Kara Walker
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Kara Walker
1998
Multiple artists/makers
2005
Multiple artists/makers
2005
Multiple artists/makers
2005
Multiple artists/makers
2005
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