Mar 31, 2022 - Sale 2599

Sale 2599 - Lot 190

Price Realized: $ 20,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
WILLIE BIRCH (1942 - )
Woman with Do Rag.

Papier-mâché and mixed media, 1990. Approximately 508x394x305 mm; 20x15 1/2x12 inches. Signed in ink, lower right verso.

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist, private collection, Virginia (1994).

This charming bust by New Orleans-native sculptor, painter and muralist Willie Birch is a wonderful example of his celebrating popular forms of African American culture. Birch first began using papier-mâché in the mid-80s and created a series of figurative sculptures that combine Birch's fine arts background with a newfound interest in folk art. A similar pair of 1991 papier-mâché busts, The Couple is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. These sculptures are in many other institutional collections including the New Orleans Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art and Speed Museum of Art.