Porgy and Bess, embracing
Date2013
MediumLithograph on Somerset paper
DimensionsSheet: 15 × 18 inches (38.1 × 45.7 cm)
Portfolio/Series"Porgy & Bess" portfolio
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds provided by the Gari Melchers Collectors' Society in honor of Courtney McNeil.
Object number2021.13.2.2
Copyright© Kara Walker.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextThese lithographs were made in conjunction with the
Porgy and Bess libretto. In these prints, Kara Walker has
superimposed the profiles of hero (Porgy) and antagonist
(Crown, Bess’ violent lover), as well as singled out key
moments in the story like the deadly hurricane in act 2 and
the couples’ vigorous embrace as they affirm their love.
Walker is renowned for her paper silhouettes of the antebellum
South that subvert the delicacy and respectability of the art
form. Here, the artist revisits the profile, creating shadowy
figures that emphasize the role of the art form in conveying
stereotypes. She explained:
By rubbing, the artist gestures to the method of creating
lithographs, which requires various stages of rubbing and
pressing; in this, she also suggests that the laborious,
chemical process of lithography lends itself to the necessary
interrogation, unpacking, and excavating of the multi-layered
history that hides beneath the outlines.
They [Porgy and Bess] are archetypes beyond the
grand opera theme of ‘star crossed lovers’; they’ve
become archetypes of another no less grand drama,
that of: “American Negroes drawn up by white authors,
and retooled by individual actors, amid charges of
racism, and counter charges of high-art on stage and
screen, in the faces of social and political upheaval
over generations.” Because they are fraught, I chose
to simply let them be paper cut-out caricatures whose
full dimensions are alluded to by rubbing.Subject MatterCharleston, South Carolina, United States of America
