Artwork Page for Cotton

Details / Information for Cotton

Cotton

1997

Kara Walker

(American, b. 1969)
publisher

Landfall Press

Culture
America
Medium
etching and aquatint with spitbite, printed chine collé, on white wove paper
Measurements
Platemark: 30 x 22.5 cm (11 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 46.3 x 37.4 cm (18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2018.210
Edition
6/35
Impression
6
Copyright
© Kara Walker
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Since the early 1990s, Kara Walker has explored issues of race, gender, and power throughout American history—especially the antebellum South. This print is one of many works in which she referenced silhouettes, a traditional art form during the 19th century. With violence that contrasts the medium’s gentility, a woman falls into a massive basket of cotton bolls, commenting on the violence inflicted upon African slaves.
A vertically oriented black ink print on white paper depicts a woman with a dark skin tone in solid black silhouette. In the upper center, she is positioned upside down, falling headfirst. Below her, at the front of the scene, a large woven basket overflows with white cotton bolls with dark hulls. Behind the central figure, the background features mottled gray and white tones with a textured, hazy appearance.

Cotton

1997

Kara Walker, Landfall Press

(American, b. 1969)
America

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