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Marie Laveau

2009
(American, b. 1958)
America, 21st century
color lithograph
Support: Philippine Kozo paper
Image: 53.6 x 53.6 cm (21 1/8 x 21 1/8 in.); Sheet: 58 x 57 cm (22 13/16 x 22 7/16 in.)
Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2009.353
© Renée Stout
Impression: 29
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Description

Renée Stout often explores African-derived spiritual belief systems to highlight the ancestry of African American culture. Here, she portrays the New Orleans Creole Marie Laveau (1801–1881), an herbalist and priestess of Louisiana vodou (a set of spiritual practices created by enslaved African people from various African and European spiritualities). She looks piercingly at the viewer as a ghostlike snake emerges from her hair, referring to reports that Laveau wore an enchanted python around her neck. Though historical portraits portray Laveau as a light-skinned woman with a carefully pinned hairstyle, Stout reimagines her with dark skin and an Afro, emphasizing the African roots of Laveau’s spiritual practice.
Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau

2009

Renée Stout, Zanatta Editions and Derriere L’Etoile Studios

(American, b. 1958)
America, 21st century

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