Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967)
Head of a Black Woman
INV-1544
Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967)c. 1935
Head of a Black Woman
Sargent Claude Johnson (American, 1888–1967) →Modernismsculpturemodern and contemporary art
Date
c. 1935
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
Sculpture: 20.6 × 10.5 × 13.3 cm (8 1/8 × 4 3/16 × 5 1/4 in.); Base: 7.9 × 10.8 × 10.2 cm (3 1/8 × 4 5/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Laura T. Magnuson Endowment
In Head of a Black Woman, Sargent Claude Johnson combined abstract elements drawn from African sculpture and masks—such as the regularly scored marks that describe hair—with a naturalistic portrayal of the woman’s physiognomy. In the 1920s and 1930s, writer and philosopher Alain Locke urged artists to seek aesthetic inspiration from African art, and Johnson frequently followed this advice. Here, by subtly stylizing the woman’s appearance, Johnson made this delicate terracotta sculpture highly individual yet also timeless and universal.
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