Artwork Page for Two Heads #1

Details / Information for Two Heads #1

Two Heads #1

1968

Jack Whitten

(American, 1939–2018)
Culture
America
Medium
pastel on laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 29.2 x 50.2 cm (11 1/2 x 19 3/4 in.); Framed: 37.4 x 58.3 x 3.8 cm (14 3/4 x 22 15/16 x 1 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.227
Copyright
© Jack Whitten
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Drawing was central to Jack Whitten’s artistic practice and he described it once as “an act of brave exploration into unknown territories.”

Description

For over five decades, Jack Whitten experimented with materials and process to create his own distinctive style of abstract drawing. This work dates to a period shortly after the artist relocated to New York from rural Alabama and was involved with the Civil Rights Movement. Depicting two anonymous African American women, it belongs to a series of portraits, created by the artist as a means of commentary on the lack of visibility of such figures throughout Western art. Depicted in gestural marks of bright color, the subjects command the viewer’s attention and convey a sense of power and dignity.
Horizontally oriented pastel drawing covered in frenzied lines in neon pink, yellow, green, and orange from which emerge the sketchy faces of two African American women, side-by-side. Black sketchily outlines their facial features on a white pastel base. On our left, yellow swirls around the face. Right, yellow streaks down the face's side. Another line and a circular eye outline in dark blue color the inner side of each face.

Two Heads #1

1968

Jack Whitten

(American, 1939–2018)
America

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