A female's silhouette carrying a bushel atop her head with her right arm bent behind her back.

Strawberry Woman

Artist Kara Walker (American, born 1969)

Printer Maurice Sánchez (American, born 1945)

Publisher The Arion Press (American)

Author Dubose Heyward (American, 1885 - 1940)

Composer Ira Gershwin (American, 1896 - 1983)

Date2013

MediumLithograph on Somerset paper

DimensionsSheet: 18 × 15 inches (45.7 × 38.1 cm)

Portfolio/Series"Porgy & Bess" portfolio

Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds provided by the Gari Melchers Collectors' Society in honor of Courtney McNeil.

Object number2021.13.2.3

On View

Not on view

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

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