- Identification and Creation
-
- Object Number
- M25199
- People
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John Wilson, American (Roxbury, Massachusetts 1922 - 2015 Brookline, Massachusetts)
- Title
- Martin Luther King
- Classification
- Prints
- Work Type
- Date
- 2002
- Culture
- American
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/146609
- Physical Descriptions
-
- Medium
- Softground etching, etching, and burnishing on chine collé on white wove paper
- Technique
- Etching
- Dimensions
- sheet: 90.2 x 75.7 cm (35 1/2 x 29 13/16 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- Signed: Wilson
- inscription: yes, lower margin, graphite, hand written, signed, in artist's hand: edition numbering, signature, date: 6/50 Wilson 02
- blind stamp: lower left corner, paper, compression: printer's blindstamp (James Stroud/Center Street Studio): [scallop shell]
- Provenance
- [Center Street Studio, Cambridge, Massachusetts], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, May 28, 2002.
- Acquisition and Rights
-
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund
- Copyright
- © Estate of John Wilson
- Accession Year
- 2002
- Object Number
- M25199
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Descriptions
-
- Commentary
- In this print Wilson asserts his identity, or at least his personal identification with the most important and influential black man of the 20th century, Martin Luther King. The presentation of the subject is direct but not confrontational. King is simply there, a man and, by the narrowness and slight slumping of his shoulders, not even a heroic man. One is reminded of police mug shots and of busts of the Man of Sorrows, and neither association is inappropriate, though the subject in no way appears victimized. Rather, he endures. Through the medium of worked and reworked softground etching, his attribute of blackness becomes a tangible reality.
- Exhibition History
-
Critical Printing, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2019 - 01/05/2020
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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu