African Coiffures

1983

Margaret Burroughs

Associated Names
Margaret Burroughs

Artist, American, 1915 - 2010

This black-and-white print depicts two stylized, abstract faces, alongside geometric patterns and textures. The face on the left is in profile, their skin decorated with swirling lines and zig-zag patterns. They have short hair depicted with shaded, triangular shapes. The face on the right looks at us, with similar curved lines highlighting their facial features and decorating their forehead with an oval swirl. This person's hair is longer, appearing to fall past their shoulders in abstract, braided strands. At the bottom of the image is a third large shape that may be the back of the head of a person with short, spiky hair. The background is a tapestry of geometric shapes, including triangles and intersecting lines.

Media Options

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    linocut on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 45.4 × 40.4 cm (17 7/8 × 15 7/8 in.)
    sheet: 55.8 × 47.4 cm (21 15/16 × 18 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2023.51.1

More About this Artwork

Article:  16 Black Artists to Know

Are you a fan of Glenn Ligon, Alma Thomas, or Gordon Parks? We’ve paired eight Black artists you might know with eight others to discover.


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Hemphill Fine Arts); National Gallery of Art, 2023

Associated Names

Inscriptions

"M Burroughs 1983" lower right margin, blue ballpoint pen. "African Coiffures" lower left margin, blue ballpoint pen, artist's hand. "4/4" lower center margin, blue ballpoint pen, artist's hand.

Markings

None.

Watermarks

None.


You may be interested in

Loading Results