Hand-pressed woodcut, 2002. 2006x1219 mm; 79x48 inches, full margins. Edition of 4.
Provenance: the John T. Scott Artist Trust.
Depicted as an indomitable matriarch, Maryann Armstrong is the mother of trumpet virtuoso Louis Armstrong. She gave birth to him in 1901 in Battlefield, New Orleans. After the birth of her daughter, Beatrice, and the absence of her husband, she suffered poor health. Needing to work, she had Louis and his sister move in with their grandmother for the next five years. After fifth grade, Louis began picking up odd jobs to help support his mother and younger sister. Throughout his young life, Maryann was an ardent supporter of his musical talent.
Educator, sculptor and printmaker John T. Scott was born in Gentilly, Louisiana in 1940, and raised in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. His father worked as a restaurant cook and chauffeur while his mother stayed home. He learned embroidery from her that served as his first foray into the visual arts. Having a Catholic New Orleans upbringing, Scott attended the Xavier University in New Orleans receiving a BA degree. He received his MFA degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing in 1965, where he studied under painter Charles Pollock. Afterward, Scott returned to Xavier where he taught for 40 years. In 1983, Scott received a grant to study under sculptor George Rickey, and in 1992, he was awarded the MacArthur Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Scott received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Michigan State University in 1995 and a Doctor of Humanities from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1997. His works are in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. Edmunds p. 5; Stedman p. 17.
Consigned to support the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia and its legacy endowment campaign.
