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AFRICOBRA: I Am Somebody : The Peninsula

Past exhibition
7 April - 14 May 2022
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Wadsworth Jarrell, Boss Couple, 1970
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Wadsworth Jarrell, Boss Couple, 1970
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Wadsworth Jarrell, Boss Couple, 1970
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Wadsworth Jarrell, Boss Couple, 1970

Wadsworth Jarrell USA, b. 1929

Boss Couple, 1970
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 27 1/2 in
91.4 x 69.8 cm
6870
Copyright Wadsworth Jarrell, 1970
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Further images

  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) Sherman Beck, Then & Now, 1972/2015
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) Sherman Beck, Then & Now, 1972/2015
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 3 ) Sherman Beck, Then & Now, 1972/2015
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 4 ) Sherman Beck, Then & Now, 1972/2015
View on a Wall
Boss Couple is a painting by AFRICOBRA founder Wadsworth Jarrell. Painted at the height of the AFRICOBRA period, this image epitomizes the philosophies that informed the foundation of the group....
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Boss Couple is a painting by AFRICOBRA founder Wadsworth Jarrell. Painted at the height of the AFRICOBRA period, this image epitomizes the philosophies that informed the foundation of the group. This is true for the subject matter, as well as for the formal aesthetic content. The subject matter reflects the importance AFRICOBRA put on family and community. The image shows Wadsworth holding one of his children, offering a positive and loving image of a tight-knit Black Family—an everyday version of the heroic Black faces that Wadsworth painted on the Wall of Respect years earlier. Aesthetically, we see many formal visual strategies at work, including "Cool-Ade" colors, the use of text, the incorporation of a range of textures, and a mixture of figuration and abstract symbolism. The repeating "B" motif running throughout the piece is common in Wadsworth's earliest works, a variable which could stand for Black, Beautiful, Bold, Boss, Badass, and so on, and in this case, he extends it into the phrase "Band Together Black People." The painting depicts Wadsworth with his son, Wadsworth Jr. sometimes known as Jerry, who was sometimes humorously characterized as the "mascot" for AFRICOBRA, as he was present at many of the earliest meetings.

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Provenance

The Artist's studio, Cleveland, OH, USA
Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, USA

Exhibitions

Africobra: Nation Time, 2019, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Africobra 50, 2018, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, USA
Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell, 2017, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
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