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Hope Is the Thing with Feathers (The Little Bird)

2021
(American, b. 1973)
(American)
color screenprint
Sheet: 104.8 x 94 cm (41 1/4 x 37 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2021.173
© Amy Sherald
State: only state
Edition: edition of 35 and 10 APs
Impression: AP 10/10
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Did You Know?

The title of this print references an 1891 verse by American poet Emily Dickinson.

Description

Amy Sherald is known for her distinctive style of portraiture that presents Black figures with grisaille (or gray) skin tones, inviting consideration of skin as a signifier. This print, the second made by the artist, reinterprets a painting of the same title. Both depict dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, founded in 1958 to combine modern dance and African American culture. The subject appears with a casual pose and assertive gaze that align with the artist’s goal, in her words, to “paint black people just being people.”
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers (The Little Bird)

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers (The Little Bird)

2021

Amy Sherald, Powerhouse Print Shop, Luther Davis, Hauser & Wirth, Inc.

(American, b. 1973), (American)

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