Object Label

Bessie Harvey described her art as a collaboration with nature and God. Her anthropomorphic compositions grew from found natural forms in wood foraged in Tennessee, informed by her personal study of African art. In God’s Gift to Man, detailed and individualized women are arranged on top of a visceral red gash. Harvey grapples with Biblical gender edicts demanding women be subservient to men, while evincing the painful frequency and reality of abuse and sexual assault of women by those same men.

Caption

Bessie Harvey American, 1929–1994. God's Gift to Man, 1987. Wood, Paint, Textile, Paper, Plastics, Hair, Metal, 47 × 48 × 26 in., 218 lb. (119.4 × 121.9 × 66 cm, 98.88kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2018, 2018.37.5. © artist or artist's estate

Title

God's Gift to Man

Date

1987

Medium

Wood, Paint, Textile, Paper, Plastics, Hair, Metal

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

47 × 48 × 26 in., 218 lb. (119.4 × 121.9 × 66 cm, 98.88kg)

Credit Line

Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2018

Accession Number

2018.37.5

Rights

© artist or artist's estate

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