Artwork Page for Revolutionary

Details / Information for Revolutionary

Revolutionary

1972

Wadsworth Jarrell

(American, b. 1929)
Culture
America
Medium
color screenprint
Measurements
Image: 83.9 x 67.4 cm (33 1/16 x 26 9/16 in.); Sheet: 83.9 x 67.4 cm (33 1/16 x 26 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2021.15
Edition
Edition of 300
Impression
53/300
Copyright
© Wadsworth Jarrell
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Wadsworth Jarrell reinterpreted the photograph on which this print is based so that Angela Davis wears a fashion design by the artist Jae Jarrell, his wife, entitled Revolutionary Suit (1968).

Description

Wadsworth Jarrell was a founding member of AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), a Chicago-based artists’ collective founded in 1968 to forge a distinctly Black form of contemporary art. Revolutionary features the vibrant tones and rhythmic text-based forms for which he is best known. Reinterpreting a painting of the previous year, the print depicts activist Angela Davis using words and phrases from her speeches, including “revolution” and “Black is beautiful.” Her figure dominates the composition in a way that Jarrell describes as “an attempt to capture the majestic charm, seriousness, and leadership of an astute drum major for freedom.”
A vertically oriented print depicts vibrantly colored words assembled into a portrait of Angela Davis, from the shoulders up, facing our left, and speaking into a palm-held microphone. Her face and the background are primarily yellow and orange, her suit pink, and her hair light blue and purple. Her face and hand feature the smallest letters, which radiate outward, becoming larger through her hair and into the background. Letters spell out words like "Resist" and "Revolution."

Revolutionary

1972

Wadsworth Jarrell

(American, b. 1929)
America

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