Sep 15, 2015 - Sale 2390

Sale 2390 - Lot 33

Price Realized: $ 5,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,000
" DINIZULU GENE TINNIE (1942 - )
In the Wake of Columbus.

Collage and mixed media on board, with artist's decorated wooden frame, 1992. 1105x445 mm; 43 1/2x17 1/2 inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower center.

Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; the estate of Dr. Maya Angelou.

Exhibited: I Remember...Thirty Years After the March on Washington: Images of the Civil Rights Movement 1963-1993, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1993 and Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, 1994, with museum labels and a poem signed and authored by the artist on the frame back; Where the Water Tastes like Cherry Wine: African American Artists in Florida, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, 1994; Linkages, Old Dillard Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 1996; Jazz: An Art Ensemble, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, FL, 1998; Zora Neale Hurston Museum, Eatonville, FL, 1998.

This mixed media collage, including a reproduction of an engraving made by British abolitionists in the 18th century set in a casket, was created in response to the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. The casket supports the world map symbolizing how the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to 19th centuries supported the global economy by killing and enslaving millions of Africans. Details of the work also highlight significant cultural elements, that were often stolen by colonial governments to display in museums. For example, a reproduction of bronze oba (king) mask from the Benin kingdom is embedded in the map.

Dinizulu Gene Tinnie is a New York-born, Miami-based visual artist, writer, independent researcher, semi-retired educator, and activist in cultural arts, historic preservation, and social justice issues. He is the Co-Director of the Dos Amigos/Fair Rosamond Slave Ship Replica Project and is active in the Middle Passage Coalition. Mr. Tinnie serves on several museum and historic preservation boards. Biography courtesy of Contemporary African Diaspora Art.