Carved wood sculpture, 1976. Approximately 1900 mm; 75 inches high.
Provenance: Gift of the artist to the curent owner, Lake Forest, IL, circa 1980.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Lorenzo Pace moved to Chicago as a teenager. During his first exhibition at the South Side Community Arts Center, a dean from the University of Illinois was so impressed by Pace's wooden masks that he encouraged the young artist to enroll in art school. Pace then attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he graduated with both a BFA. and an MFA. He went on to receive a doctorate in art education from Illinois State University in 1978.
Pace gained national attention in 1993 when he was commissioned to build a monument at New York City's Foley Square, paying homage to the African slaves originally buried on that site. In 1991, the remains of more than 400 African slaves were excavated during the construction of a federal building in the city's financial district. Pace built the 300-ton granite sculpture, Triumph of the Human Spirit for the memorial site. He presently maintains a studio in Brooklyn, and serves as director of the Montclair State University Art Gallery. Biography courtesy of thehistorymakers.com.
