The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 18, 2024
Untitled (Four Etchings)
1992
(American, b. 1960)
published by
Sheet: 64 x 44 cm (25 3/16 x 17 5/16 in.); Platemark: 60 x 40.4 cm (23 5/8 x 15 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1994.159.4
Location: not on view
Description
Ligon explores ways in which identity is constructed in relation to others or to suit the expectations of a specific audience. The two etchings from this suite printed in black on white paper repeat the sentences "I do not always feel colored" and "I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background," quotes from Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." Ligon explained that "the prints play with the notion of becoming 'colored' and how that 'becoming' obscures meaning [obscures the text] and also creates this beautiful, abstract thing." The other two prints iterate the first lines of Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man. Ligon found that "Ellison uses the metaphor of invisibility to describe the position of blacks in this country—as ghost, present and real but, because of the blindness of racism, remaining unseen." By placing black text on a black background so that it is nearly illegible, Ligon literally did the same.- Who RU2 Day: Mass Media and the Fine Art Print. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 18, 2018-March 24, 2019).The Cleveland Museum of Art (1/26/2014 - 5/18/2014); "Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings"Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): April 13, 2009 - September 11, 2009.
- {{cite web|title=Untitled (Four Etchings)|url=false|author=Glenn Ligon, Max Protech, Inc.|year=1992|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.159.4