The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Revolutionary

Revolutionary

1972
(American, b. 1929)
America
color screenprint
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.)
Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2021.15
© Wadsworth Jarrell
Location: not on view

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.”
  • 1972-2017
    Wadsworth Jarrell [1929-], Cleveland, OH
    2017-2021
    (Lusenhop Fine Art, Chicago, [now Cleveland], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    2021-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Revolutionary|url=false|author=Wadsworth Jarrell|year=1972|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.15