Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967). Untitled (Standing Woman), ca. 1933–1935. Terracotta, paint, surface coating, Overall: 14 1/4 x 4 x 3 1/2 in. (36.2 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Emil Fuchs and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Steinhauer, by exchange, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 2010.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.2_front_PS6.jpg)
Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967). Untitled (Standing Woman), ca. 1933–1935. Terracotta, paint, surface coating, Overall: 14 1/4 x 4 x 3 1/2 in. (36.2 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Emil Fuchs and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Steinhauer, by exchange, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 2010.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.2_threequarter_PS6.jpg)
Untitled (Standing Woman)
Sargent Claude Johnson
American Art
On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Witness
This terracotta figure of a woman was created by the San Francisco–based artist Sargent Claude Johnson in the 1930s, as Black artists derived inspiration from the New Negro Movement and its leader Alain Locke, whose encouragement of art that celebrated contemporary Black life and African ancestral traditions led Johnson to refer to African sculpture in the mask-like form of the face seen here. Employing a modernist reduction of form in the simplified, cylindrical body, Johnson created work that exudes a quiet gravity and power, within a practice he could only pursue outside his various jobs until he received W.P.A. Federal Art Project commissions in 1937 and 1938.
MEDIUM
Terracotta, paint, surface coating
DATES
ca. 1933–1935
DIMENSIONS
Overall: 14 1/4 x 4 x 3 1/2 in. (36.2 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
2010.2
CREDIT LINE
Gift of the Estate of Emil Fuchs and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Steinhauer, by exchange, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Mary Smith Dorward Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Witness
CAPTION
Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967). Untitled (Standing Woman), ca. 1933–1935. Terracotta, paint, surface coating, Overall: 14 1/4 x 4 x 3 1/2 in. (36.2 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Emil Fuchs and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Steinhauer, by exchange, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, and Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 2010.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.2_front_PS6.jpg)
IMAGE
front, 2010.2_front_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2011
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Orphaned work
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