Abstract

c. 1938
(American, 1888–1967)
Overall: 35.6 x 20 cm (14 x 7 7/8 in.)
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location: not on view

Download, Print and Share

Description

Sargent Johnson became the most significant African American sculptor of his generation. He was born in Boston but grew up in San Francisco and received his principle training at the California School of Fine Arts. Johnson became nationally prominent through a series of exhibitions developed and supported by the Harmon Foundation, a New York-based organization significant in its promotion of African American artists at a national level in the 1920s and 30s. This drawing is closely related to Johnson's 1938 lithograph White and Black, a work influenced by Cubism featuring a standing African American woman, her head in profile, holding a strand of beads. The drawing is a truncated version of this composition, with the same head in profile and similar forms, including beads and coils, but the figure is less evident and the overall effect is more abstract. This work represents a distinctly African American form of modernism that combines a sophisticated but highly personal adaptation of the cubist language with a treatment of subject meant to convey pride in the artist's own culture and race.
Abstract

Abstract

c. 1938

Sargent Johnson

(American, 1888–1967)
America, 20th century

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.