Conté crayon on cream wove paper, 1978-79. 984x737 mm; 39¾x29 inches. Signed in crayon, lower left. Titled and dated in crayon, lower right.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection, Texas.
Exhibited: The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, April 2 - September 3, 1995; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; October 15, 1995 - January, 13, 1996, and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, May 19 - July 14, 1996, with the museum labels on the frame back.
Illustrated: Alvia J. Wardlaw. The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room, The Museum of Fine Arts, fig 26, p. 65.
This large and impressive drawing by John Biggers demonstrates his creative pursuit of imagery based on African symbolism. Beginning in the 1970s, Biggers moved away from realism towards a new aesthetic defined by African traditions and philosophy. Dr. Wardlaw wrote that in "King Sarah and Brother Man, the geometrized mask-like shape of the faces lends a formal structure to the works, but also adds a new layer of meaning. These two works evoke the Yoruba belief that the head is the temple of the body, a concept well documented by Professor Robert Farris Thompson of Yale University." Wardlaw p. 62.
