abstract painting that resembles image of human figure composed of geometric shapes in black, orange, yellow and white; figure is holding weapon in PL hand with arm raised; dead white bird in center; PR hand of figure is around neck of bird; bird rests atop stylized column; blue circle in upper left quadrant

%C2%A9 Estate of Charles Alston

Symbol, 1953

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On View in Gallery 376expand_more

Charles Alston was an influential mentor to other artists and a critical part of the African American cultural community in the New York neighborhood of Harlem. He favored straightforward, bold genre scenes early in his career and was a successful muralist. By 1950 he had started making abstractions, often with suggestions of figures in the compositions. This painting is among his most direct of the period. It depicts a scene of ritual sacrifice. Many artists in the years following World War II sought analogies in mythology, folktales, and ancient art for the modern traumas of the 1930s and 1940s. Symbol emerged out of that impulse among American and European artists coming to terms with the war.

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Details
Title
Symbol
Artist Life
1907 - 1977
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2016.90
Curator Approved

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abstract painting that resembles image of human figure composed of geometric shapes in black, orange, yellow and white; figure is holding weapon in PL hand with arm raised; dead white bird in center; PR hand of figure is around neck of bird; bird rests atop stylized column; blue circle in upper left quadrant

© Estate of Charles Alston

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