About this artwork
In Head of a Black Woman, Sargent Claude Johnson combined abstract elements drawn from African sculpture and masks—such as the regularly scored marks that describe hair—with a naturalistic portrayal of the woman’s physiognomy. In the 1920s and 1930s, writer and philosopher Alain Locke urged artists to seek aesthetic inspiration from African art, and Johnson frequently followed this advice. Here, by subtly stylizing the woman’s appearance, Johnson made this delicate terracotta sculpture highly individual yet also timeless and universal.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of the Americas
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Artist
- Sargent Claude Johnson
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Title
- Head of a Black Woman
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- c. 1935
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Medium
- Terracotta
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Inscriptions
- Signed: SARGENT JOHNSON (on underside of hair on proper left)
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Dimensions
- Sculpture: 20.6 × 10.5 × 13.3 cm (8 1/8 × 4 3/16 × 5 1/4 in.); Base: 7.9 × 10.8 × 10.2 cm (3 1/8 × 4 5/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Laura T. Magnuson Endowment
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Reference Number
- 2000.86