The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

A Smaller Space

1991

Curlee Raven Holton

(American, b. 1951)
printer

Robert Blackburn Workshop, New York, NY

America
color etching
Platemark: 56.5 x 75.6 cm (22 1/4 x 29 3/4 in.)
Gift of Joan Tomkins and William Busta 2023.147
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Curlee Raven Holton visited the Cleveland Museum of Art during field trips as a young man and described how he “would discover something new each time.”

Description

Raised in Cleveland, artist Curlee Raven Holton created this print during time that he spent working with legendary printer Robert Blackburn in New York City. It features a skeletal form curled at its extremities to fit awkwardly within the frame of the printing plate. The composition exemplifies Holton’s interest in using the body as a means of, in his words, “re-humanizing . . . African Americans.”
  • ?–2023
    William Busta and Joan Tomkins, Cleveland Heights, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    September 11, 2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=A Smaller Space|url=false|author=Curlee Raven Holton, Robert Blackburn Workshop, New York, NY|year=1991|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.147