In this series Index asks our colleagues, “What is your favorite work of art in our collections and why?” This is a tall order, given that there are about 250,000 works in the Harvard Art Museums’ collections. Click here to see other responses in this series.  

Alvin Benjamin Carter III, Website and Multimedia Coordinator

“It would have to be Glenn Ligon’s Self-Portrait at Eleven Years Old. It’s a giant picture of Stevie Wonder and it’s pretty awesome.”

Is that the main appeal, that it’s Stevie?

“Well, it’s the fact that it’s Stevie Wonder, but also the way the work is printed. Lots of little dots build [the image of] Stevie Wonder, and you can see him so vividly. Ligon used Stevie as a self-portrait, a celebrity and someone he looked up to.”