Sherman Beck USA, b. 1942
Ancestors, c. 1990
Oil on canvas
34 x 44 in
86.4 x 111.8 cm
86.4 x 111.8 cm
6992
Further images
Sherman Beck’s Mask Series, also known as the Ancestor series, is inspired in part by the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, which begins, “We wear the...
Sherman Beck’s Mask Series, also known as the Ancestor series, is inspired in part by the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, which begins, “We wear the mask that grins and lies.” The series examines the relationship between traditional African masks and the masks we create with our own expressions on our actual faces as we go about our day. In this painting, we see ten faces—nine of them are African masks identified according to their tribe and location, and one is an actual human face, its origin identified as “U.S. America.”
Provenance
Select ExhibitionsMOCA North Miami
AFRICOBRA50, Kavi Gupta Gallery Chicago
Temple Gallery
Exhibitions
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2018 AFRICOBRA: Messages to the People, MOCA North Miami, Miami FL AFRICOBRA 50, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 Which Way Our Children…? African American Reflections, Chicago Temple Art Gallery, IL Maleness to Manhood: Reclamation of the Young Black Male, South Side Community Art Center Africobra and Beyond, DuSable Museum of African American History
2011 A Diaspora Rhythm, Elmhurst College, IL
2008 Sherman Beck: Realms & Abstractions, African American Cultural Center, University of Illinois, Chicago
2007 Beautiful Spaces and Places, ETA Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 Images of the Past: Collection of Artwork from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, South Side Community Art Center, Chicago, IL
1971 Africobra II, Studio Museum in Harlem
1970 Africobra I: Ten in Search of a Nation, Studio Museum in Harlem 1969 Contemporary Black Art, Roosevelt University, IL