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Man of Sorrows

A marble bust of Christ's face in agony: the face is vertically elongated, and other features are exaggerated, including deeply inset eyes and full lips. On the hairline is a crown of thorns carved in relief.

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  • A marble bust of Christ's face in agony: the face is vertically elongated, and other features are exaggerated, including deeply inset eyes and full lips. On the hairline is a crown of thorns carved in relief.

Date:

1950

Artist:

Marion Perkins
American, 1908–1961

About this artwork

In the 1950s, Marion Perkins was one of Chicago’s foremost sculptors. He participated in nearly one dozen invitational exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1942 to 1957 and received three awards of distinction. His career was capped by the museum’s 1951 purchase of one of his most extraordinary pieces, Man of Sorrows. This sculpture is indeed powerful, but its emotional intensity is not achieved through brute force of carving or any “primitivizing” influence. Rather, it succeeds through its brilliant balance of exaggeration and restraint. Its sheer physical presence is conveyed through the impressive bulk of the marble block—often scavenged from abandoned buildings. The head’s simplified, protruding eyes are shut tight; the pursed lips are both hidden and defined by a short stubby beard; the hair is veined with smoothly carved thorns. Christ’s contained expression of agony is arresting.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Marion Perkins

Title

Man of Sorrows

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1950

Medium

Marble

Inscriptions

Inscription: signed and dated on back, chiseled into stone: "MP 50"

Dimensions

44.4 × 25.4 × 25.4 cm (17 1/2 × 10 × 10 in.)

Credit Line

Pauline Palmer Prize Fund

Reference Number

1951.129

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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